Speech in noise hearing difficulties
Reviewed by Joanna Lemanska

The phenomenon of speech understanding in noise in normal hearing people attracts the interest of researchers continuously. This study’s aim was to further explore the possible reasons behind these difficulties. The participants were 50 adults that reported having normal hearing and difficulties in hearing speech in background noise. The ‘Hearing Experiences survey’ was developed as a part of the discussed study and consisted of three parts concerning: listening situations that participants reported as difficult; the impact of the hearing difficulties and response and managements of the difficulties by the participants. Additionally, the following were performed: pure tone audiometry; noise suppression; Listening in Spatialised Noise Sentences test; National Acoustic Laboratories Dynamic Conversation test; Test of Everyday Attention (TEA); and Reading Span Test. The results of this study were in accordance with the previous research and indicated background noise as the main reason for speech understanding difficulties. Statistical analysis was performed, and attention seems to be an important factor when considering speech in noise hearing which is also in accordance with the previous studies. In the management of the participant’s difficulties, subjects preferred the communication training over using assistive listening devices. Although, some of the participants of this study were willing to think about using the devices to help them to manage their difficulties, there still seems to be a strong resistance to considering the devices as an option.

Adults who report difficulty hearing speech in noise: an exploration of experiences, impact and coping strategies.
Pang J, Beach EF, Gilliver M, Yeend I.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDIOLOGY
2019;58(12):851-60.