Standardization of audiological tests in NATASHA

In the field of Audiology there is a strong need to develop new tests in order to make full benefit of new possibilities of new and digital hearing aids. These tests involve speech tests. It would be a waste of resources to do so separately for each country or language area. Furthermore there is a need for standardization of all available tests with the increasing exchange of people over national boundaries. NATASHA aims at standardizing tests and testing procedure. They can be developed in countries with more available resources (scientific, financial). If the design of the tests and the characteristics of the recordings are explicitly stated, the tests can be translated into other languages without great effort due to the availability of good phonetic and language descriptors from earlier European research. The program aims at analyzing existing audiological tests for design and content, describing explicitly the goal of a test and linking the goal to its functional use in modern Audiology. The inventory will be made extensively in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Sweden and in as many other languages as there are institutions that will cooperate. The requirements and the available tests and procedures will then be translated in a specification for the design of international or multi-language tests.