Aided Speech Intelligibility
A measure of how well a hearing aid user understands speech while wearing their device, contrasted with unaided performance to evaluate device benefit.
Full Definition
Aided speech intelligibility quantifies a hearing aid user's ability to correctly identify spoken material—typically words or sentences—while the device is active, serving as a functional outcome measure in aural rehabilitation. It is routinely compared against unaided speech intelligibility scores to compute aided benefit. Testing may be conducted in quiet or in noise, and scores are usually expressed as a percentage correct or as a recognition threshold in decibels. Editors of outcome studies and clinical audit reports must ensure that 'aided' is consistently used to denote the amplified condition, and that comparisons explicitly state whether conditions are quiet or noisy.
Usage
Usage note: Always specify whether aided intelligibility scores are obtained in quiet or noise; failing to do so is a common editorial omission in rehabilitation outcome articles.
In Context
- "Aided speech intelligibility at 65 dB SPL reached 88%, compared with 54% in the unaided condition." — Hearing aid outcome report
- "The table must clearly label each column as 'aided' or 'unaided' to avoid misinterpretation of speech intelligibility data." — Journal manuscript review note