[Speech perception in noise with the "wuerzburg speech test for children"]

Background: Patients with hearing loss complain of a reduced speech perception in noise. For school children and adults there are several standardized audiometric tests available to measure the outcome in background noise like the HSM-Test, OlSa or OlKiSa. However, for kindergarden and preschool children a comparable speech perception test in noise does not exist. The aim of this study was to evaluate and standardize the recently developed "wuerzburg speech test for children" in noise.

Materials and methods: 24 children aged 5-9 years with bilateral normal hearing were included. They have been tested with the test IV of the "wuerzburg speech test for children" in noise. This test consists of 3 lists, each with 20 two-syllable words. For the background noise, a 32 time delayed interference of the speech items were used.

Results: The speech perception threshold (SRT) at 60 dB (SPL) depending on the signal to noise ratio (SNR) was measured for each child. The overall averaged SNR was -8.3 dB. Furthermore a small, non-significant influence by the age of the children to the test results was seen.

Conclusion: The "wuerzburg speech test for children" is suitable to measure the individual speech perception in noise. It is appropriate for kindergarden, preschool and school children. The test material consists of the uptodate vocabulary of children. The average SRT was -8.3 dB SNR, which is comparable with the published literature.