Reliability and Validity of the Korean Matrix Sentence-in-Noise Recognition Test for Older Listeners with Normal Hearing and with Hearing Impairment

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine test-retest reliability and validity of the adaptive Korean matrix sentence-in-noise test for elderly group with normal hearing (ENH) and elderly group with hearing impairment (EHI).Methods: Twenty ENH listeners and 20 EHI listeners based on the World Health Organization (WHO)-proposed hearing-impairment grade participated. For the test-retest reliability of the Korean matrix sentence-in-noise test, each subject was assessed twice in a 2-week interval using three types of noise: speech-shaped noise, International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology noise, and International Speech Test Signal. The test-retest agreement was judged by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman plots. To differentiate between real change and random measurement error, the standard error of measurement (SEM) and the minimal detectable change (MDC) were also obtained as another reliability index. For the concurrent validity, the results of the Matrix test were compared to the results of the Korean-version Hearing In Noise Test (K-HINT).Results: The test-retest reliability was good to excellent for ENH and EHI groups (ICC, 0.84~0.98). Both groups showed stable reliability, but the ENH group showed smaller SEM and MDC values than the EHI group. No systematic errors were found from the Bland-Altman plots. The correlation between the results of the Matrix test and the K-HINT test was high, revealing good concurrent validity.Conclusion: The Korean matrix sentence-in-noise test appeared to be valid and reliable for the elderly. The Korean matrix sentence-in-noise test can be utilized for clinical measurement of the speech-in-noise ability of elderly individuals.