Development of the Persian Listening in Spatialized Noise Sentence Test: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Background and Aim: Listening in Spatialized Noise Sentence (LiSN-S) is one of the auditory processing disorder test battery that specifically diagnose spatial processing disorders. This research aimed to develop The Persian version of the LiSN-S, for assessing auditory processing disorders in the Persian speakers' population. Methods: The PLiSN-S test was developed based on its original Australian version. The speech stimuli were convolved with Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs) to generate speech in the presence of spatialized noise. In total, 120 target sentences (consisting of five 1-3-syllable words) and competing stories were presented in four conditions. These included the Same Voice co-located condition (SV0 degrees), Different Voice co-located condition (DV0 degrees), Same Voice separated condition (SVf90 degrees), and Different Voice separated condition (DVf90 degrees). Then, data from 30 adults aged 18-23 with normal hearing were obtained. Results: The results from the normal-hearing subjects showed that the Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) scores, expressed as Signal to Noise Ratios (SNR), varied across the four conditions (SV0 degrees, DV0 degrees SVf90 degrees, DVf90 degrees) the highest and lowest SRTs belonged to the first and last conditions, respectively. The amount of advantage in all conditions was lower than in the previously published English versions. Conclusion: Considering the impact of spatial separation on the SRTs, PLiSN-S appears to be an effective tool for measuring spatial processing skills.