Reading Behind the Lines: The Factors Affecting the Text Reception Threshold in Hearing Aid Users
DOI: 10.1044/2017_jslhr-h-17-0196
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Summary
This study investigates the factors influencing the Text Reception Threshold (TRT), a visual test designed to assess modality-general cognitive abilities relevant to speech perception in noise. The research addresses two primary questions: which specific cognitive and auditory factors best predict individual differences in TRT performance, and how TRT correlates with Speech Reception Thresholds (SRTs) and subjective hearing difficulties. The motivation stems from the need to clarify the specific cognitive processes tapped by the TRT, which has been widely adopted in audiology but previously linked only broadly to "linguistic closure." The researchers analyzed data from 180 hearing aid users participating in the Swedish n200 study. The methodology involved constructing a prediction model using both conventional predictors (verbal working memory, updating, inhibition, verbal inference) and novel predictors (lexical access speed, phonological processing, logical inference), while controlling for age, pure-tone average (PTA), gender, and visual acuity. Additionally, association models examined the relationship between TRT and SRTs measured under various conditions, including stationary noise and multitalker babble using HINT and Hagerman matrix sentences, as well as subjective ratings of hearing quality. The results indicate that TRT performance is significantly predicted by the ability to fill in missing words in incomplete sentences, lexical access speed, and working memory capacity. Age and pure-tone hearing acuity were found to significantly confound these associations. Regarding the relationship with speech perception, better TRTs were associated with better SRTs specifically in challenging conditions involving informational masking, such as the 4-talker babble condition using Hagerman sentences. Better TRTs also correlated with improved subjective ratings of speech perception. However, when adjusting for age and pure-tone hearing thresholds, the associations between TRT and SRTs in other conditions, as well as with other subjective hearing qualities, were no longer statistically significant. The study concludes that the TRT test measures processes relevant to speeded lexical decision making and working memory capacity required for completing partly masked sentences. It establishes that the TRT is specifically linked to speech perception abilities in conditions characterized by informational masking and daily-life listening difficulties. These findings underscore the utility of the TRT in research involving speech perception, providing a clearer interpretation of the cognitive factors that support speech understanding in noise for hearing aid users.
Provenance
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | Crossref | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-17 |
| archive | success | unpaywall | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-25 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-25 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-18 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-18 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-18 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-17 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 1 | 2026-06-25 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-18 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-25; verification: verified.
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