Sigfrid D. Soli, Ph.D., and his staff in the Communication and Auditory Neuroscience Division at the Institute have developed a state-of-the-art diagnostic test procedure that measures functional hearing ability. The Hearing in Noise Test, or HINT, is a prerecorded test that measures sentence speech reception thresholds in quiet and in noise. The test demonstrates the substantial role that binaural, directional hearing plays in a normal hearing individual’s ability to communicate. Any degree of hearing impairment reduces directional hearing ability in noise, decreasing effective communication. The HINT is copyrighted by the Institute. It has been translated into more than a dozen languages and is currently being used in hearing clinics and research laboratories around the world. Children’s versions of the HINT in American English, Canadian French, Cantonese, and mainland Mandarin have also been developed.

Recently, Dr. Soli worked in collaboration with doctors at West China Hospital of Sichuan University in China to develop a battery of speech perception tests in Mandarin for measuring hearing impairment in Chinese children age 2-5 years. The four tests comprising this battery are the first norm-referenced, objective, standardized and recorded speech tests in Mandarin for evaluating hearing in young children. The test battery is licensed to Cochlear Asia-Pacific, a cochlear implant manufacturer, for use in evaluating pediatric cochlear implant recipients throughout China. As a result of this research in China, Dr. Soli has been named as a senior international advisor to the Chinese Rehabilitation and Research Center for Deaf Children and to the Chinese Academy of Audiological Rehabilitation.

Dr. Soli also was invited to edit the Assessment of Speech Communication Handicap issue of the prestigious International Journal of Audiology. The 398-page special issue was two years in the making and featured articles on various aspects of the HINT from contributors throughout the world. His team is also developing test procedures for screening applicants and incumbents in hearing-critical public safety jobs, such as firefighters and law enforcement. These procedures are currently used by Federal and State government agencies in the United States and Canada.

Prior to joining the Institute, Dr. Soli was a member of the research staff of the Biosciences Laboratory, 3M Company, where he developed cochlear implant and hearing aid technologies. He is an inventor of 34 US and international patents. He was also a tenured facult member in the Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, before his work at 3M. He is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, and a previous Chair of the Speech Communication Technical Committee of that society. He has served as consultant to the National Institutes of Health and to several private industries on issues related to the design, development, and evaluation of diagnostics and prosthetic devices for hearing impaired individuals. He has also served for three years as a voting member of the FDA’s ENT Device Panel.