The Korean digits-in-noise test clinically complements the Korean hearing-in-noise test

Difficulty understanding speech-in-noise (SiN) is a prominent early deficit in sensorineural hearing loss not fully explainable by an elevated hearing threshold, thereby highlighting the need to efficiently measure the important aspects of everyday listening difficulties. We compared the Korean Digits-in-Noise Test (K-DiNT) and the Korean Hearing-in-Noise Test (K-HiNT) in capturing the effects of hearing loss (HL) severity and spatial separation on SiN perception and examined the relationship between the K-DiNT and K-HiNT outcomes across spatial listening conditions. Speech reception thresholds increased with greater HL across all conditions, while spatial separation improved SiN performance in both tests.

This implies spatial release from masking, with the K-DiNT yielding a substantially larger spatial benefit than the K-HiNT. The outcomes of the two tests were strongly correlated across all listening conditions, with the highest correlation for the K-HiNT composite score comprising the noise-front, noise-left, and noise-right conditions. These findings indicate that the K-DiNT captures key aspects of SiN perception under various spatial listening conditions despite differences in stimulus format and linguistic demands between the two tests.

Given its short testing time, minimal linguistic demands, and smartphone compatibility, the K-DiNT is a practical and accessible tool for assessing SiN perception and demonstrably complements sentence-based testing. This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (RS-2022-NR069203), and funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-RS-2023-00243712 and NRF-RS-2023-00244421), and by the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (RS-2024-KH145084) and the Pediatric Disease Research and Development Program (RS-2025-02215795), and the Hallym University Research Fund. Laboratory of Hearing, Balance, and Integrated Neuroscience (HBIN), Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang, Republic of Korea Sungmin Jo, Ji-Hye Han, Seungik Jeon & Hyo-Jeong Lee Ear and Interaction Center, Doheun Institute for Digital Innovation in Medicine (D.I.D.I.M.), Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Anyang, South Korea Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea The authors declare no competing interests.

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The Korean digits-in-noise test clinically complements the Korean hearing-in-noise test. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-70398-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-70398-5