A new speech audiometry test with verbal tasks and motor responses (VTMR)

Background. Speech tests able to quantify the cognitive factors involved in speech and language processing may help to account for the variance in speech recognition noted across listeners. Aims.The authors want to describe a new speech test in which speech comprehension soliciting the execution of simple tasks is tested by the motor response to phonetically balanced verbal commands recorded on a CD, thus allowing a psychometric function related to the intensity and to show the preliminary results in normal hearing and in the elderly. Methods. The items used in the test setting included one base, one hammer, one wooden structure with four sticks and five rings of different colors, and 20 lists with five verbal tasks per list. VTMR has been recorded in Italian, English, Russian and Japanese languages. Results. All normal hearing subjects without cognitive impairment performed VTMR tasks (100%) correctly at 35 dB SPL. In SNHL subjects, the percentage of correct answers was significantly higher for VTMR than bisyllabic speech audiometry above 50 dB SPL. Conclusions. VTMR might make it easier to check the ability to understand verbal commands than traditional speech audiometry, in particular in those patients with poor test taking skills.