Hanneke Van der Hoek-Snieders

Chapter 1 18 used for screening purposes, such as the digits-in-noise test that can be performed without help of an experimenter (Smits et al., 2013) or the Occupational Ear Check (OEC) that can be completed online (Sheikh Rashid & Dreschler, 2018). The stimuli of the digits-in-noise test are sets of three numbers that need to be entered on a computer. The stimuli of the OEC are monosyllabic words that are represented by nine response buttons on the screen with a picture and the written word. For clinical use, speech perception tests including sentence stimuli are most often used, allowing to predict the ability to understand speech in adverse listening conditions (Plomp &Mimpen, 1979; Versfeld et al., 2000). The presented noise can be either continuous or fluctuating (interrupted). By comparing the outcome of a speech perception test in continuous noise with one performed in fluctuating noise, information is provided on howwell an individual is capable of making use of relative silent periods in the noise. In individuals with normal hearing or conductive hearing loss, the outcome of the test in fluctuating noise is expected to be more favorable than the outcome of the test in continuous noise. For individuals with sensorineural hearing loss this is not the case, since they do not profit this much from temporal gaps due to reduced temporal resolution. To assess the ability of speech understanding of sounds coming from multiple directions, speech perception tests can be performed in a free field condition with separated sound sources. A variety of test conditions has been described, which differ in terms of the number of sound sources, the azimuths at which the sound sources are located, and the type of noise used (Darwin, 2008; Dirks & Wilson, 1969; Gnewikow et al., 2009; Grutters et al., 2007; Ricketts &Henry, 2002; Wagner et al., 2020). The ability to localize sounds can be assessed by asking a test subject to indicate the box where the sound came from (spatial hearing) (Letowski & Letowski, 2012; Santala & Pulkki, 2011; Yost & Brown, 2013). An alternative test to assess the ability to localize sounds is to ask subjects to determine if a sound source is approaching or receding (Andreeva et al., 2018; McCarthy & Olsen, 2017). Questionnaires Several generic, health related questionnaires are available, such as the Medical Outcome Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, the EuroQol, and the Health Utilities Index Mark III (Grutters et al., 2007; McHorney et al., 1993). These

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