Development of a German reading span test with dual task design for application in cognitive hearing research. (February 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Carroll, Rebecca; Meis, Markus; Schulte, Michael; Vormann, Matthias; Kießling, Jürgen; Meister, Hartmut
• Is Part Of: International journal of audiology. Volume 54:Number 2(2015:Feb.)
• Page Start: 136
• Page End: 141
• Publication Date: 2015-02
• Subjects: Audiology -- Periodicals; Hearing disorders -- Periodicals; Deafness -- Prevention -- Periodicals; Hearing Disorders -- Periodicals; Hearing -- Periodicals; 617.8
• DOI: 10.3109/14992027.2014.952458
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1499-2027

Abstract

<abstract> <title>Abstract</title> <p> <italic>Objective:</italic> To report the development of a standardized German version of a reading span test (RST) with a dual task design. Special attention was paid to psycholinguistic control of the test items and time-sensitive scoring. We aim to establish our RST version to use for determining an individual's working memory in the framework of hearing research in German contexts. <italic>Design:</italic> RST stimuli were controlled and pretested for psycholinguistic factors. The RST task was to read sentences, quickly determine their plausibility, and later recall certain words to determine a listener's individual reading span. RST results were correlated with outcomes of additional sentence-in-noise tests measured in an aided and an unaided listening condition, each at two reception thresholds. <italic>Study sample:</italic> Item plausibility was pre-determined by 28 native German participants. An additional 62 listeners (45–86 years, <italic>M</italic> = 69.8) with mild-to-moderate hearing loss were tested for speech intelligibility and reading span in a multicenter study. <italic>Results:</italic> The reading span test significantly correlated with speech intelligibility at both speech reception thresholds in the aided listening condition. <italic>Conclusion:</italic> Our German RST is standardized with respect to psycholinguistic construction principles of the stimuli, and is a cognitive correlate of intelligibility in a German matrix speech-in-noise test.</p> </abstract>