Teste de dígitos no ruído no português brasileiro: análise da influência de fatores demográficos e socioeconômicos e da acurácia em função do tipo dos estímulos

Abstract

Aim: To verify the accuracy of the diotic and antiphasic digits-in-noise (DIN) test in Brazilian Portuguese in four criteria for analyzing the gold standard test and the influence of demographic and socioeconomic variables. Methodology: Two studies were designed:Study 1 Hearing Accuracy applying DIN with diotic and antiphasic stimuli, via smartphone with in-ear headphones. ROC curves were established to define the cutoff point, measures of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for diotic and antiphasic DIN considering four criteria for analysis of pure tone audiometry (best and worst ear ≤ 25 and 40 dB). Study 2 was cross-sectional and prospective with normal hearing subjects. The diotic DIN was applied and the influences of sex, age, socioeconomic level and education were analyzed. Results: In study 1 there were 102 subjects (18 to 90 years), 15.68% normal hearing, 69.60% with sensorineural hearing loss and 14.70% mixed. The highest sensitivity measure (96.51%) was found in the antiphasic stimulus for the worst ear mean criterion (≤ 25dB) with a cutoff of -11.90 dB in the DIN. There was a positive correlation between diotic and antiphasic DIN and degree of hearing loss. In study 2, 151 normal hearing subjects demonstrated worse answers with older age, less education and socioeconomic level on the DIN, with no influence of gender. Conclusion: The sensitivity and specificity values in the diotic and antiphasic conditions were above 75% among the analyzed criteria. Age, education and socioeconomic level influence the response to diotic DIN.