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[AUDITORY] National Hearing Test
Dear Colleagues,
This may sound like a commercial message, but it is not. Please read on because it is a request for your help in what we believe to be a worthwhile project.
Although few US hearing scientists or clinicians appear to be aware of it, a reliable and valid telephone screening test for hearing impairment was introduced by Cas Smits and his co-workers in the Netherlands in 2004. Since that time telephone tests modeled on that first one have been introduced and are in use in most European countries, the UK, and Australia. This past month we launched a US version and would appreciate the help of the List in raising the awareness of hearing scientists and clinicians of it. We will not take up a lot of space with detailed descriptions of the test and its validation, but just give a quick overview and some references where the details can be found. If you are very busy, please at least take a quick look at the test website, www.nationalhearingtest.org .
This test, like all the other telephone-administered national hearing tests, consist of a series of spoken three-digit sequences, presented in a noise background. The sequences are presented with a one-up, one-down tracking procedure. The SNR on which the track converges is strongly correlated with average pure-tone thresholds (and significantly with tones at specific frequencies up to 8KHz) and more strongly with tests of masked speech, such as the WIN, administered in audiology clinics. After both ears are tested, the caller is told that each ear is either, "within normal limits", "below (worse than) normal limits" or "marginal." Two validation studies, one at Indiana University and the other at three clinics operated by the US Department of Veterans Affairs have shown this test to be a valid basis for advising callers whose performance is worse than normal, or marginal, to seek a full evaluation by a licensed or certified audiologist.
Development and validation of the test was done in a collaborative project between Indiana University, VU University Medical Center of Amsterdam, and Communication Disorders Technology, Inc. (a university spin-off company in Bloomington, IN.), with support from NIH/NIDCD.
There is a charge of $8 for the test, which covers the costs of putting it up on a toll-free telephone line, providing the computer services to run the test and conduct follow-up to both determine how many of those who fail actually comply with the advice to seek a complete evaluation and to continue contacting those persons to encourage them to seek services they may need. A first grant from NIH/NIDCD supported the development of the test and a second grant is underwriting the costs of providing the test for a two year period, after which it will either have become self-supporting or will be terminated.
The test is now operating on a nonprofit basis, under the terms of the NIH grant, and a non-profit corporation (501C3) will be set up to continue it if there is enough demand during the two-year grant period. It was decided that this national test would not have any connections with commercial entities that provide devices or services to treat hearing impairment.
What we would like (U.S.) members of the List to do is visit the National Hearing Test website: www.nationalhearingtest.org and decide whether you believe that such a test ought to be available in the U.S. There are some 16-20 million hearing impaired persons in the U.S. who have never had a hearing test. The potential value of the telephone test is that it might convince a significant proportion of those who would benefit from services to seek them. We say all this at length in Watson et al., JAAA, 2012. The grant to support the launch of this national test provides only enough funding for a few newspaper ads and radio spots. Thus your help could be extremely important if you told your students, colleagues, and audiologist friends about it, and possibly even wrote a note to your local newspaper.
Thanks for reading this, and please forgive us if you feel that this is an abuse of our privileges to use the List. We pondered that question at length and decided that establishing a non-profit National Hearing Test is legitimate auditory news.
Best regards,
Chuck Watson, Jim Miller, Gary Kidd, Cas Smits, and Larry Humes
References
Watson, C. S., Kidd, G. R., Miller, J. D., Smits, C., & Humes, L. E. (2012). Telephone screening tests for functionally impaired hearing: Current use in seven countries and development of a US version. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 23, 757-767.
Smits, C., & Houtgast, T. (2005). Results from the Dutch speech-in-noise screening test by telephone. Ear & Hearing, 26, 89-95.
Smits, C., Kapteyn, T. S., & Houtgast, T. (2004). Development and validation of an automatic speech-in-noise screening test by telephone. International Journal of Audiology, 43, 1-15.
-----Original Message-----
From: AUDITORY - Research in Auditory Perception [mailto:AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of AUDITORY automatic digest system
Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2013 12:01 AM
To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: AUDITORY Digest - 24 Oct 2013 to 25 Oct 2013 (#2013-252)
There is 1 message totalling 115 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. And one preference test for starting the week !
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Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 12:55:05 +0300
From: Gilles Degottex <gilles.degottex@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: And one preference test for starting the week !
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Last call !
If you didn't do it yet, I would be very glade if you would take 10min for the test below.
Thank you very much for your time,
Gilles
P.S. Advice: Never send a call for participation for a listening test on Monday ... very bad idea ...
On Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 3:46 PM, Gilles Degottex
<gilles.degottex@xxxxxxxx>wrote:
> Hi everybody,
>
> I would be glade if you have 7.5min to give me your preferences about
> the following sounds:
> http://gillesdegottex.eu/Test2013pdvps
>
> Please, forward it as much as you want.
>
> Thank you very much for your time,
> Best,
> Gilles Degottex
> --
> FORTH - ICS
> Vasilika Vouton, P.O. Box 1385
> GR 71110 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
> Mobile: +30 6942 207403
> Check out COVAREP - A co-operative voice analysis repository for
> speech
> technologies:
> Website: http://covarep.github.io/covarep
>
>
--
FORTH - ICS
Vasilika Vouton, P.O. Box 1385
GR 71110 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Mobile: +30 6942 207403
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<div dir=3D"ltr">Last call !<div><br></div><div>If you didn't do it yet= , I would be very glade if you would take 10min for the test below.<br><div=
><br></div><div>Thank you very much for your
>time,</div><div>Gilles</div><d=
iv>
P.S. Advice: Never send a call for participation for a listening test on Mo= nday ... very bad idea ...<br><div class=3D"gmail_extra"><br><br><div class= =3D"gmail_quote">On Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 3:46 PM, Gilles Degottex <span dir= =3D"ltr"><<a href=3D"mailto:gilles.degottex@xxxxxxxx"; target=3D"_blank">= gilles.degottex@xxxxxxxx</a>></span> wrote:<br> <blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1p= x #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div><span style=3D"font-fa= mily:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.800000190734863px">Hi everybody,</span><= br style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.800000190734863px">
<br style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.800000190734863px">
<span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.800000190734863px"=
>I would be glade if you have 7.5min to give me your preferences about
>the =
following sounds</span><span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-siz=
e:12.800000190734863px">:</span><br style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;f=
ont-size:12.800000190734863px">
<a href=3D"http://gillesdegottex.eu/Test2013pdvps"; target=3D"_blank">http:/= /gillesdegottex.eu/Test2013pdvps</a><br style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-ser=
if;font-size:12.800000190734863px"><br style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-seri=
f;font-size:12.800000190734863px">
<span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.800000190734863px"=
>Please, forward it as much as you want.</span><br
>style=3D"font-family:ari=
al,sans-serif;font-size:12.800000190734863px"><br style=3D"font-family:aria= l,sans-serif;font-size:12.800000190734863px">
<span style=3D"font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.800000190734863px"=
>Thank you very much for your time,</span><br
>style=3D"font-family:arial,sa=
ns-serif;font-size:12.800000190734863px"><span style=3D"font-family:arial,s= ans-serif;font-size:12.800000190734863px">Best,</span><div style=3D"font-fa= mily:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.800000190734863px">
<font face=3D"arial, sans-serif">Gilles=A0<span style=3D"background-color:r= gb(255,255,204)">Degottex</span></font></div><span class=3D"HOEnZb"><font c= olor=3D"#888888"><div>--=A0<br></div><div dir=3D"ltr">FORTH - ICS<br>Vasili= ka Vouton, P.O. Box 1385<br> GR 71110 Heraklion, Crete, Greece<br>
Mobile: <a href=3D"tel:%2B30%206942%20207403" value=3D"+306942207403" targe=
t=3D"_blank">+30 6942 207403</a><div>Check out COVAREP - A co-operative voi= ce analysis repository for speech technologies:<br><div>Website:=A0<a href= =3D"http://covarep.github.io/covarep/"; target=3D"_blank">http://covarep.git=
hub.io/covarep</a></div>
</div><div><br></div></div></font></span></div><font face=3D"arial, sans-se= rif"> </font></div> </blockquote></div><br><br clear=3D"all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir=3D"= ltr">FORTH - ICS<br>Vasilika Vouton, P.O. Box 1385<br>GR 71110 Heraklion, C= rete, Greece<br>Mobile: +30 6942 207403<br></div> </div></div></div></div>
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End of AUDITORY Digest - 24 Oct 2013 to 25 Oct 2013 (#2013-252)
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