Gürültü Maruziyeti Olan Bireylerde Türkçe Matrix Test Bulgularının Değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effect of noise on speech discrimination, with the Turkish Matrix test in individuals who were both exposed to noise and not. The study group included 20 normal-hearing participants who experienced at least 5-years of noise exposure. The control group included 20 normal-hearing subjects without noise exposure. The age range in the study was 18-45 for both groups. The pure tone audiometry with 9-20 kHz, speech audiometry, tympanometry, and the Turkish Matrix test used. The four protocols of the Turkish matrix test were applied in a quiet, and in noise with fixed leveled binaurally and monaurally. In the study, the signal to noise ratio of the tests performed in noise, speech discrimination scores get in quite binaurally, and speech recognition thresholds were determined in quiet was evaluated. There was no significant difference between the control and the study groups on pure tone audiometry and with 9-20 kHz high frequency, speech audiometry, acoustic reflex results (p> .05). The control and the study group were statistically significantly different from each other in the Turkish Matrix tests for all protocols (p <.05). In the current study, despite obtaining normal pure tone averages, speech skills discrimination was impaired in participants with noise exposure. In conclusion, standard pure tone audiometry test is not enough to detect speech discrimination difficulties in noise and it is more effective to use speech discrimination tests to reveal the difficulties.