The French MBAA2 sentence recognition in noise test for cochlear implant users

The “Marginal benefit from acoustic amplification” version 2 (MBAA2) sentence test has been used in France in the routine evaluation of cochlear implant (CI) users for 20 years. Here we present four studies that characterise and validate the test, and compare it with the French matrix sentence test. An analytic method was developed to obtain speech recognition threshold in noise (SNR50) from testing at a fixed signal to noise ratios (SNRs). Speech recognition was measured at several fixed SNRs in 18 normal-hearing listeners and 15 CI listeners. Then, the test–retest reliability of the MBAA2 was measured in an additional 15 CI listeners. Finally, list equivalence was evaluated in eight CI listeners. The MBAA2 test produced lower SNR50s and SNR50s were obtained in more CI listeners than with the French matrix test. For the MBAA2, the standard deviation of test–retest differences in CI listeners was around 1 dB SNR. Three lists had deviant difficulty and nine low item-to-total correlations. We propose to reduce the number of MBAA2 test lists to reduce variability. The MBAA2 test has high test–retest reliability for percent correct and SNR50, and is suitable for the assessment of cochlear implant patients.