A convergent validity study: Listening in Spatialized Noise-Sentences (LiSN-S) test and the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT).

Objectives: The primary purpose of this study was to compare Listening in Spatialized Noise - Sentence (LiSN-S) test and the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) thresholds in order to determine if the two tests measure the same construct (convergent validity). The secondary purpose was to determine performance differences between the two test protocols. The third purpose was to determine the relationships between quiet measures (pure-tone average [PTA] and HINT Quiet thresholds) speech-in-noise performances.

Design: Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, Spearman rho statistic, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and linear mixed model analyses. Fifty-six young adults with normal PTAs (≤15 dB HL for 0.5-4.0 kHz) participated in this study.

Results: No statistically significant relationships were found between LiSN-S and HINT measures (poor convergent validity). However, statistically significant relationships were found between the quiet measures (HINT Quiet thresholds and average PTA) vs. the LiSN-S (same and different voices) ±90° performances.

Conclusion: LiSN-S performances in two-talker babble cannot be generalized to the ability to recognise HINT sentences in steady-state speech-shaped noise, and vice versa. The results imply that LiSN-S ± 90° thresholds were influenced by hearing sensitivity or by supra-threshold distortions that co-vary with hearing sensitivity.