PURPOSE: To determine and compare the sentence recognition thresholds in the noise, in sound field, in the presence of incident noise from different angles, and to verify the most unfavorable hearing condition, in normal-hearing individuals. METHODS: The Portuguese Sentences Lists test was carried out in 38 young adults, evaluated in acoustic booth. The sentences were presented at 0º - 0º azimuth, and the competitive noise at 0º - 0°, 0° - 90°, 0° - 180°, and 0° - 270° azimuth, in a fixed loudness of 65 dB NPS (A). RESULTS: The signal-to-noise ratios in which the sentence recognition thresholds were obtained for these incidence angles were, respectively: -7.56, -11.11, -9.45, and -10.43 dB. Differences were found between the results in the conditions: 0º - 0º and 0º - 90º; 0º - 0º and 0º - 180º; -0º - 0º and 0º - 270º. CONCLUSION: The following sentence recognition thresholds in the noise, in sound field, were obtained for these signal-to-noise ratios: 0° - 0° = -7.56 dB; -0º - 90º = -11.11 dB; -0º - 180° = -9.75 dB; 0º - 270º = -10.43 dB. The better thresholds were obtained with the incidence angles of 0º - 90º and 0º - 270º, followed by the 0º - 180º condition, and, finally, by the 0º - 0º condition. The most unfavorable hearing condition was that in which the noise was in the same incidence angle of the speech, in front of the evaluated subject.
Speech discrimination tests; Noise; Communication; Speech intelligibility; Speech perception
