2024 Volume 67 Issue 2 Pages 159-167
In an inclusive setting, 10 children with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss were studied, covering 18 ears due to unilateral evaluations in 2 cases. We aimed attempted to determine the relationship between the speech intelligibility index (SII) values and the intelligibility of Japanese monosyllables and to estimate the amount of Long-Term Average Speech Spectrum (LTASS) amplification that would be effective for improving intelligibility. The mean age of the participants was 9 years 5 months (range, 5-14 years). The mean hearing level of the unaided ear was 65.5±16.1dBHL (range, 41.2-95), and that of the aided ear was 30.7±9.9dBHL. The derived SII value from the International Speech Test Signal (ISTS) serves as a gauge for the adaptability of hearing aid fitting. This importance stems from its, as it has been shown to bear strong correlation with the intelligibility of Japanese monosyllables (rs＝0.79). Furthermore, children with hearing loss require an amplification of 8.5±5.6 dBSPL above the threshold for LTASS to achieve a notable speech intelligibility of 80% or more (p<0.01). Enhancement of speech intelligibility encompasses LTASS amplification across the frequency bands of 250 Hz, 1 kHz, and 4 kHz (F(4, 33) ＝32.5, p<0.01). The SII values and LTASS amplitudes shown in this study offer significant clinical insights into hearing aid fitting in younger children struggling with speech audiometry challenges.
