The development of the text reception threshold test: A visual analogue of the speech reception threshold test

Purpose: In this study, the authors aimed to develop a visual analogue of the: widely used Speech Reception Threshold (SRT; R. Plomp & A. M. Mimpen, 1979b) test. The Text Reception Threshold (TRT) test, in which visually presented sentences are masked by a bar pattern, enables the quantification of modality-aspecific variance in speech-in-noise comprehension to obtain more insight into interindividual differences in this ability. Method: Using an adaptive procedure similar to the SRT test, the TRT test determines the percentage of unmasked text needed to read 50% of sentences correctly. SRTs in stationary noise (SRTSTAT), modulated noise (SRTMOD), and TRTs were determined for 34 participants with normal hearing, aged 19 to 78 years. Results: The results indicate that about 30% of the variance in SRTSTAT and SRTMOD is shared with variance in TRT, which reflects the shared involvement of a modality-aspecific cognitive or linguistic ability in forming meaningful wholes of fragments of sentences. Conclusion: The TRT test, a visual analogue of the SRT test, has been developed to measure the variance in speech-in-noise comprehension associated with modality-. aspecific cognitive skills. In future research, normative data of the TRT test should be developed. It would also be interesting to measure TRTs of individuals experiencing difficulties understanding speech.