Speech in Noise Testing

Hey everyone! It’s Dr. Shopovick, and today we will be reviewing speech-in-noise testing. So, we all know that a standalone hearing test does not really give us the full picture on how well you perform in noisy situations such as a restaurant, which is why we integrate a really important test called the QUICKSIN into our hearing test protocol.
The QUICKSIN is short for ‘quick speech-in-noise test,’ and you may be wondering why it’s called QUICKSIN, and that’s because, well, it’s quick! It takes about less than five minutes to run, but it does give us critical information on how well you do in the real world.
So, as an example, this is what you could expect when you come in for this test. We put you in the sound booth, and you will hear a series of sentences, and after each sentence, you are asked to repeat that back to the audiologist. Now, the tricky part is that after each sentence plays, the background noise gets louder and louder. The background noise you are hearing is very very similar to what you would hear in a restaurant setting. You know, the babbling noises in the background and things like that.
Now, after that test is finished, we do score it, and if you get a low score, that’s great. That means your brain has minimal to no difficulty filtering out that noise. If you get a higher score, that just means your brain has a little more difficulty filtering out that noise. And after we’re done scoring it, it will help us determine the best treatment plan for you.
So, if you get a really poor score, that is okay. That just means we can narrow down what hearing aid is going to be the best for you, and what technology is going to be the best. If you also get that really poor score, we may need to go a step further and get you an assistive listening device. This listening device is usually called a mini-microphone, and you wear the microphone with your hearing aids, and essentially, when you’re at a restaurant or really any noisy situation, that microphone is going to make speech clearer for you while reducing all of that background noise that we don’t want to hear.
So, that’s why the QUICKSIN is so important, because it really gives us the full picture of your listening needs and what is going to really help you the best in those situations.