Speech intelligibility in noise with everyday sentences correlates better with matrix sentences than with digits for cochlear implant users and typical hearing listeners

Abstract

Objective: To determine correlations between speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) for everyday sentences compared to Matrix sentences and digits-in-noise (DIN) triplets. Design: Comparative analysis of SRTs across three speech materials in both cochlear implant (CI) users and typical hearing (TH) listeners, using linear regression and analysis of covariance. Study Sample: 18 experienced CI users (mean age 63 ± 5 years) and 18 age-equivalent TH listeners (mean age 62 ± 12 years), all naive to the test materials. Results: SRTs of Matrix sentences and everyday sentences correlated significantly (R²: 0.81 for CI, 0.71 for TH), as did SRTs of DIN triplets and everyday sentences (R²: 0.42 for CI, 0.28 for TH). Regression slopes did not differ significantly between CI and TH groups in either comparison. However, intercepts differed significantly between the CI (−2.65) and TH (−6.70) groups for the DIN triplets, but not for the Matrix sentences. Slopes for the DIN triplets deviated significantly from unity for both groups. Conclusions: Dutch/Flemish Matrix sentence SRTs closely correlate with everyday sentence SRTs for both CI users and TH listeners, establishing it as a reliable alternative for repeated assessment. DIN triplet SRTs showed weaker correlations with everyday sentences and with significant intercept differences between groups.