The purpose of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate a set of Arabic monosyllabic word lists to use in the measurement of the word recognition score. Familiar Arabic monosyllabic words were digitally recorded by a native male talker from Jordan who was judged to have a standard Arabic dialect. Twenty native Arabic participants with normal hearing were used as subjects to determine the percentage of correct word recognition for each word at 10 intensity levels ranging from -5 to 40 dB HL in 5 dB increments. The monosyllabic word data were analyzed using logistic regression. The words producing the steepest psychometric function were included in the final word lists. Four lists of 50 words each were created and eight half-lists (25 words each) were created from the four lists. A Chi-square analysis was performed, revealing no statistical differences among the lists and half-lists. The mean monosyllabic psychometric function slopes at 50% for lists and half-lists were 4.8%/dB.

The purpose of this study was to record a set of Mongolian monosyllabic word lists that could be used to obtain a word recognition score. A word list was developed of 190 frequently used monosyllabic words which had been selected by a group of raters. Native male and female Mongolian talkers were utilized to make digital recordings. The 190 words were divided into 10 lists of 19 words. The lists were presented to 20 normally hearing subjects at 10 different intensity levels ranging from -5 to 40 dB HL in 5 dB increments. An S-curve distribution was used to divide the words among three lists based upon the results of the word recognition testing. Word lists were assembled formulating 3 lists of 50 words and 6 half-lists of 25 words using an S-curve distribution. Logistic regression was used to calculate the psychometric functions for each list. The mean psychometric function slopes for the male and female word lists were 6.19%/dB and 5.17%/dB respectively. The 50% threshold was 14.47 dB HL for the final adjusted male and female lists.

The purpose of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and equate Mongolian monosyllabic and bisyllabic child-appropriate words which can be used in the measurement of word recognition scores and speech-reception threshold (SRT) in children who are native speakers of Mongolian. Based on data collected from a survey of Mongolian child language professionals, a subset of child-appropriate materials was adapted from a set of materials developed for Mongolian adults. Two lists of 50 monosyllabic words and four half-lists of 25 words each were developed for testing the word recognition abilities of Mongolian children. The developed lists and half-lists were found to be statistically equivalent in terms of audibility and psychometric slope, with average psychometric function slopes (at 50% intelligibility) of 6.41 %/dB for the male recordings and 5.84 %/dB for the female recordings. Given the structure and limitations of the study, a valid set of child-appropriate SRT materials could not be developed. It is likely that the inability to obtain a subset of SRT words was due in part to large differences between the mean PTA of the subjects and the threshold for 50% intelligibility, as well as the inability to represent most of the selected words pictographically. However the information gained from this study provides additional insight that may aid the future development of child-appropriate Mongolian SRT materials. Digital recordings of the resulting psychometrically equivalent child- appropriate speech audiometry materials are available on compact disc.

The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of English-speakers in determining the word recognition score of native Taiwan Mandarin-speakers. Digitally recorded Mandarin word lists were presented to 10 native Mandarin-speakers from Taiwan (five male, five female), from whom oral and written responses were collected. Oral responses were scored by 30 native English-speakers, 15 of which had no experience with Mandarin and 15 with two to three years of college-level Mandarin courses or equivalent knowledge of Mandarin. The judges who had experience with Mandarin were able to score the WRS tests with 97% accuracy (with scores ranging from 10% below to 4% above the actual score of the test). The judges without experience with Mandarin scored the WRS tests with 88.8% accuracy (with scores ranging from 34% below to 26% above the actual score of the test). An analysis of variance found that there was a significant difference between a judge's knowledge of Mandarin and his or her ability to accurately score the oral responses. An inspection of the performance of the judges in respect to the five different Mandarin tones indicated that there are some tone combinations that are more difficult to score correctly than others. While it is apparent that tone combination may play a role in the ability to accurately score WRS words in Mandarin, the implications of this for a clinical setting are uncertain because words with these tone combinations were not heard often. Tone perception training for the judges or simply making clinicians aware of this difficulty in tone identification may be of benefit in overcoming this obstacle.

The purpose of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability of digitally recorded word recognition materials. Word recognition testing is included in a complete audiological evaluation to measure an individual's ability to discriminate what they hear. A phonetically balanced list of 50 monosyllabic words was presented to each participant at four different sensation levels (SL) using the American Speech Language Hearing Association recommended protocol for word recognition score testing. Each participant took a 10 minute break before the test was readministered. Participants included 40 subjects with varying levels of hearing loss, from normal hearing to severe hearing loss. The test and retest scores of all participants were analyzed to estimate the test-retest reliability to be .65 at 10 dB SL, .87 at 20 dB SL, .88 at 30 dB SL, and .95 at 40 dB SL. It was concluded that the word lists have strong test-retest reliability at 20, 30, and 40 dB SL and that the reliability increases as the presentation level increases.

Ο σκοπός αυτής της μελέτης ήταν η ανάπτυξη μιας «ομιλητικής δοκιμασίας χαμηλού πλεονασμού» για την αξιολόγηση της κεντρικής ακουστικής επεξεργασίας σε παιδιά πρωτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης τα οποία παρουσιάζουν μαθησιακές δυσκολίες. Η ανάγκη επιβεβαίωσης της ακεραιότητας του περιφερικού ακουστικού συστήματος πριν την εφαρμογή της κεντρικής δοκιμασίας, οδήγησε στην ανάπτυξη δύο ακόμη δοκιμασιών ομιλητικής ακοομετρίας. Η πρώτη ήταν για τη μέτρηση του «ουδού αναγνώρισης ομιλίας» και η δεύτερη για το «σκορ αναγνώρισης ομιλίας». Σαράντα λέξεις επιλέχθηκαν ως το τελικό υλικό της πρώτης δοκιμασίας και δύο φωνημικά ισόρροπες λίστες των πενήντα λέξεων για τη δεύτερη δοκιμασία. Από τη στατιστική ανάλυση για τη συσχέτιση του ποσοστού αναγνώρισης ομιλίας ανάμεσα στις 2 λίστες, δεν προέκυψε στατιστικά σημαντική διαφορά σε καμία στάθμη παρουσίασης του σήματος ομιλίας. Για την δοκιμασία της κεντρικής ακουστικής επεξεργασίας, οι δύο φωνημικά ισόρροπες λίστες τροποποιήθηκαν ψηφιακά χρησιμοποιώντας φίλτρο χαμηλής διέλευσης συχνοτήτων με συχνότητες αποκοπής στα 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500, 1750 και 2000 Hz με ρυθμό αποκοπής φίλτρου 18 dB/οκτάβα. Οι λίστες λέξεων διέλευσης χαμηλών συχνοτήτων που προέκυψαν εφαρμόστηκαν σε 180 παιδιά σχολικής ηλικίας σε στάθμη 40 dBSL αναφορικά με τον ουδό αναγνώρισης ομιλίας του κάθε παιδιού. Αρχικά μετρήθηκε ο ουδός αναγνώρισης ομιλίας του κάθε παιδιού. Για τη μέτρηση του σκορ αναγνώρισης ομιλίας παρουσιάστηκε μία λίστα σε ένταση 40 dBSL και η άλλη λίστα σε 80 dBSL. Ο ουδός αναγνώρισης ομιλίας κάθε παιδιού ήταν +6 dBHL από το μέσο όρο ουδών ακοής του, και κανένα παιδί δεν παρουσίασε σκορ αναγνώρισης ομιλίας μικρότερο από 92%. Επίσης, κανένα παιδί δεν παρουσίασε σημαντική μείωση στο σκορ αναγνώρισης ομιλίας του, στην ένταση των 80 dBSL. Ενενήντα παιδιά (52 αγόρια και 38 κορίτσια, ΜΟ=8.93, ΤΑ=1.68) χωρίς μαθησιακή διαταραχή αποτέλεσαν την πρώτη ομάδα και τα υπόλοιπα 90 (48 αγόρια και 42 κορίτσια, ΜΟ=9.04, ΤΑ=1.59) με μαθησιακή διαταραχή. Η στατιστική ανάλυση από την σύγκριση του ποσοστιαίου μέσου αριθμού λέξεων, που αναγνωρίστηκαν από τα παιδιά με μαθησιακή διαταραχή και παιδιά χωρίς μαθησιακή διαταραχή, προέκυψε στατιστικά πάρα πολύ σημαντική για τις περισσότερες συχνότητες αποκοπής φίλτρου με τη μέγιστη διαφορά να προκύπτει για το φίλτρο αποκοπής συχνοτήτων των 1000 Hz. Τα ίδια αποτελέσματα προέκυψαν και από τη σύγκριση μεταξύ των υποομάδων. Συμπερασματικά, αυτή η μελέτη κατέληξε στην ανάπτυξη τριών ομιλητικών δοκιμασιών. / The aim of this study was the development of a monaural low-redundancy speech test for assessment of the “auditory closure” process in school aged children that present learning disability and characteristics of a central auditory processing disorder. The need to determine the integrity of the peripheral hearing mechanism before testing for central auditory function, served for the development of two additional speech audiometry tests for children, due to their absence in Modern Greek language. The first was for the speech recognition threshold (SRT) and the second for the word recognition score (WRS) test. Four criteria were utilized for the development of SRT materials and eight for the WRS test. Forty trisyllabic words with thresholds within one standard deviation of the mean SRT and mean rate of growth in intelligibility were selected for the final SRT material. For the WRS test, two phonemically balanced fifty-word lists were developed. Statistical analysis between the two lists revealed no statistical significant differences on all presentation levels. In order to develop the behavioral test of CAPD, the two WRS lists were digitally modified utilizing low-pass filter with cutoff frequencies of 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500, 1750 και 2000 and rejection rate of 18dB/octave. Initially, the SRT was determined for every child. For WRS testing, one list was presented at 40 dBSL and the second at 80 dBSL to rule out 8th nerve pathology. The SRT was within +6 dBHL from the pure tone average and no child presented WRS less than 92%. Additionally, no child presented significant reduction of WRS at 80 dBSL. The low-pass filtered lists were tested on 180 school aged children at 40 dBSL. Ninety children (52 boys and 38 girls, Μ=8.93, SD=1.68) without learning disability and 90 children (52 boys and 38 girls, Μ=9.04, SD=1.59) with learning disability and CAPD behavior characteristics were served as the subjects of the two groups. Statistical analysis of the mean WRSs between the two groups and subgroups revealed a signicant difference for most cutoff frequencies with the highest difference for the 1000 Hz filter. In conclusion, this study resulted in the production of three speech audiometry tests for school aged children. These tests serve a variety of clinical functions.