Development, Validity and Reliability of the Persian Version of the Consonant-Vowel in White Noise Test

One of the most common complaints expressed by individuals with hearing-impairment is the difficulty in speech perception in background noise. Different tests have been developed for the evaluation of reduced ability of speech perception in noise, and the Consonant-Vowel in noise test is one of the simplest one regard to speech materials. The goal of the present study was development and determined validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Consonant-Vowel in noise test, among 18 to 25 year old Persian speaking because of the lack of a Persian version of this test.
This was a tool-making research that had 3 main stages: development of the Persian version of the Consonant-Vowel in noise test (4 lists and each list in 5 different signal to noise ratio), examination of its content validity, and its administration on a total of 50, 18 to 25 year normal hearing individuals (20 men /30 women) that selected by random sampling method, in order to examine the reliability of the test from the students of the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. For descriptive reports, central tendencies and indices of dispersion were used and for statistics relations; Pearson correlation test, intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), paired t-test and independent t-test were used.
The content validity ratio for each item was acceptable (CVR>0.62). The lists number 2, 3, and 4; and also the lists number 1 and 4 in the Consonant-Vowel in noise test, were highly correlated (P0.05) and also men’s and women’s scores (P>0.05). Participant's performance improved as the SNR increased.
According to the study results, it can be concluded that the Persian version of the Consonant-Vowel in noise test has acceptable content validity and reliability, and can be used in clinical and research works.