{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,11]],"date-time":"2026-10-11T02:14:48Z","timestamp":1791684888987,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":56,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,1]],"date-time":"2025-09-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1756684800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,1]],"date-time":"2025-09-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1756684800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000265","name":"Medical Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["MR\/W007428\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MR\/W007428\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000265","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100014653","name":"Manchester Biomedical Research Centre","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100014653","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Trends in Hearing"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This proof-of-concept study evaluated the implementation of a digits-in-noise test we call the \u2018AI-powered test\u2019 that used text-to-speech (TTS) and automatic speech recognition (ASR). Two other digits-in-noise tests formed the baselines for comparison: the \u2018keyboard-based test\u2019 which used the same configurations as the AI-powered test, and the \u2018independent test\u2019, a third-party-sourced test not modified by us. The validity of the AI-powered test was evaluated by measuring its difference from the independent test and comparing it with the baseline, which was the difference between the Keyboard-based test and the Independent test. The reliability of the AI-powered test was measured by comparing the similarity of two runs of this test and the Independent test. The study involved 31 participants: 10 with hearing loss and 21 with normal-hearing. Achieved mean bias and limits-of-agreement showed that the agreement between the AI-powered test and the independent test (\u22121.3\u2009\u00b1\u20094.9\u2005dB) was similar to the agreement between the keyboard-based test and the Independent test (\u22120.2\u2009\u00b1\u20094.4\u2005dB), indicating that the addition of TTS and ASR did not have a negative impact. The AI-powered test had a reliability of \u22121.0\u2009\u00b1\u20095.7\u2005dB, which was poorer than the baseline reliability (\u22120.4\u2009\u00b1\u20093.8\u2005dB), but this was improved to \u22120.9\u2009\u00b1\u20093.8\u2005dB when outliers were removed, showing that low-error ASR (as shown with the Whisper model) makes the test as reliable as independent tests. These findings suggest that a digits-in-noise test using synthetic stimuli and automatic speech recognition is a viable alternative to traditional tests and could have real-world applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/23312165251367625","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,1]],"date-time":"2025-10-01T17:53:21Z","timestamp":1759341201000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Digits-In-Noise Hearing Test Using Text-to-Speech and Automatic Speech Recognition: Proof-of-Concept Study"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"29","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6256-490X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohsen","family":"Fatehifar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness (ManCAD), University of Manchester, Manchester, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6543-9098","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kevin J.","family":"Munro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness (ManCAD), University of Manchester, Manchester, UK"},{"name":"Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2252-9258","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael A.","family":"Stone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness (ManCAD), University of Manchester, Manchester, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8117-9193","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"David","family":"Wong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2695-9063","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tim","family":"Cootes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Imaging Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Josef","family":"Schlittenlacher","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, London, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/14992027.2022.2075798"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/23312165241229057"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3109\/00381796809075436"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1148\/radiol.2015151516"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1044\/2022_AJA-21-00217"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4135\/9781452272047"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000000563"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000001160"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000000775"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11042-023-16438-y"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_12_1","unstructured":"Ewing Foundation. 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