Adaptation of the Connected Speech Test: Rerecording and Passage Equivalency

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasan K. Saleh ◽  
Paula Folkeard ◽  
Ewan Macpherson ◽  
Susan Scollie
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
North American ◽  
First Language ◽  
Intraclass Correlation ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Connected Speech ◽  
Internal Reliability ◽  
Speech Test ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Unit Standard

Purpose The original Connected Speech Test (CST; Cox et al., 1987) is a well-regarded and often utilized speech perception test. The aim of this study was to develop a new version of the CST using a neutral North American accent and to assess the use of this updated CST on participants with normal hearing. Method A female English speaker was recruited to read the original CST passages, which were recorded as the new CST stimuli. A study was designed to assess the newly recorded CST passages' equivalence and conduct normalization. The study included 19 Western University students (11 females and eight males) with normal hearing and with English as a first language. Results Raw scores for the 48 tested passages were converted to rationalized arcsine units, and average passage scores more than 1 rationalized arcsine unit standard deviation from the mean were excluded. The internal reliability of the 32 remaining passages was assessed, and the two-way random effects intraclass correlation was .944. Conclusion The aim of our study was to create new CST stimuli with a more general North American accent in order to minimize accent effects on the speech perception scores. The study resulted in 32 passages of equivalent difficulty for listeners with normal hearing.

Improving Speech Perception in Noise for Children with Cochlear Implants

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (09) ◽  
pp. 623-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
René H. Gifford ◽  
Amy P. Olund ◽  
Melissa DeJong
Keyword(s):  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Cochlear Implant ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Speech Understanding ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Experimental Subjects

Background: Current cochlear implant recipients are achieving increasingly higher levels of speech recognition; however, the presence of background noise continues to significantly degrade speech understanding for even the best performers. Newer generation Nucleus cochlear implant sound processors can be programmed with SmartSound strategies that have been shown to improve speech understanding in noise for adult cochlear implant recipients. The applicability of these strategies for use in children, however, is not fully understood nor widely accepted. Purpose: To assess speech perception for pediatric cochlear implant recipients in the presence of a realistic restaurant simulation generated by an eight-loudspeaker (R-SPACE™) array in order to determine whether Nucleus sound processor SmartSound strategies yield improved sentence recognition in noise for children who learn language through the implant. Research Design: Single subject, repeated measures design. Study Sample: Twenty-two experimental subjects with cochlear implants (mean age 11.1 yr) and 25 control subjects with normal hearing (mean age 9.6 yr) participated in this prospective study. Intervention: Speech reception thresholds (SRT) in semidiffuse restaurant noise originating from an eight-loudspeaker array were assessed with the experimental subjects’ everyday program incorporating Adaptive Dynamic Range Optimization (ADRO) as well as with the addition of Autosensitivity control (ASC). Data Collection and Analysis: Adaptive SRTs with the Hearing In Noise Test (HINT) sentences were obtained for all 22 experimental subjects, and performance—in percent correct—was assessed in a fixed +6 dB SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) for a six-subject subset. Statistical analysis using a repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) evaluated the effects of the SmartSound setting on the SRT in noise. Results: The primary findings mirrored those reported previously with adult cochlear implant recipients in that the addition of ASC to ADRO significantly improved speech recognition in noise for pediatric cochlear implant recipients. The mean degree of improvement in the SRT with the addition of ASC to ADRO was 3.5 dB for a mean SRT of 10.9 dB SNR. Thus, despite the fact that these children have acquired auditory/oral speech and language through the use of their cochlear implant(s) equipped with ADRO, the addition of ASC significantly improved their ability to recognize speech in high levels of diffuse background noise. The mean SRT for the control subjects with normal hearing was 0.0 dB SNR. Given that the mean SRT for the experimental group was 10.9 dB SNR, despite the improvements in performance observed with the addition of ASC, cochlear implants still do not completely overcome the speech perception deficit encountered in noisy environments accompanying the diagnosis of severe-to-profound hearing loss. Conclusion: SmartSound strategies currently available in latest generation Nucleus cochlear implant sound processors are able to significantly improve speech understanding in a realistic, semidiffuse noise for pediatric cochlear implant recipients. Despite the reluctance of pediatric audiologists to utilize SmartSound settings for regular use, the results of the current study support the addition of ASC to ADRO for everyday listening environments to improve speech perception in a child's typical everyday program.

scholarly journals The internal and external consistency of a speech reception threshold test for isiZulu speakers with normal hearing sensitivity

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seema Panday ◽  
Harsha Kathard ◽  
Mershen Pillay ◽  
Wayne Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Correlation Coefficient ◽  
Intraclass Correlation Coefficient ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
First Language ◽  
Intraclass Correlation ◽  
Word List ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Hearing Sensitivity ◽  
Speech Reception ◽  
External Consistency

Background and objectives: This study investigated reliability, particularly the internal and external consistency, of a new isiZulu speech reception threshold (SRT) test. Methods: To examine internal consistency, 21 adult isiZulu speakers with normal hearing sensitivity completed the SRT test using the first and second halves of the SRT wordlist in the same test session. To examine external consistency, a separate 23 adult isiZulu speakers with normal hearing sensitivity completed the SRT test, using the whole word list on two occasions 4 weeks apart. Consistency of SRT test scores in these test conditions was measured using intraclass correlation coefficient analyses (a measure of the consistency or reproducibility of different observations of the same quantity) and Bland and Altman analyses of agreement (a comparison of measurement error with the expected variation amongst subjects). Results: Intraclass correlation coefficient values ranged from 0.69 to 0.79, showing the isiZulu test scores were highly consistent between the test and retest conditions used in this study. Bland and Altman analyses showed that isiZulu speakers with normal hearing sensitivity can be expected to return isiZulu SRT test scores that differ by no more than 7.5 dB HL – 8.7 dB HL between original and repeat assessments. Conclusion: The isiZulu SRT test was reliable, showing high internal and external consistency, when used to assess first-language speakers of isiZulu with normal hearing sensitivity. These findings warrant continued development of the isiZulu SRT test for eventual clinical use. This development should include validating this test on first-language speakers of isiZulu with and without hearing loss.

scholarly journals Development and Validation of Sentences Without Semantic Context to Complement the Basic English Lexicon Sentences

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (11) ◽  
pp. 3847-3854
Author(s):  
Erin R. O'Neill ◽  
Morgan N. Parke ◽  
Heather A. Kreft ◽  
Andrew J. Oxenham
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Experimental Design ◽  
Confidence Intervals ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Semantic Context ◽  
Randomized Experimental Design ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Development And Validation ◽  
Basic English

Purpose The goal of this study was to develop and validate a new corpus of sentences without semantic context to facilitate research aimed at isolating the effects of semantic context in speech perception. Method The newly developed corpus contains nonsensical sentences but is matched in vocabulary and syntactic structure to the existing Basic English Lexicon (BEL) corpus. It consists of 20 lists, with each list containing 25 sentences and each sentence having four keywords. Each new list contains the same keywords as the respective list in the original BEL corpus, but the keywords within each list are scrambled across sentences to eliminate semantic context within each sentence, while maintaining the original syntactic structure. All sentences in the original and nonsense BEL corpora were recorded by the same two male and two female talkers. Results Mean intelligibility scores for each list were estimated by calculating the mean proportion of correct keywords achieved by 40 normal-hearing listeners for one male and one female talker. Although small but significant differences were found between some pairs of lists, mean performance for all 20 lists fell within the 95% confidence intervals of the mean. Conclusions Lists in the newly developed nonsense corpus are reasonably well equated for difficulty and can be used interchangeably in a randomized experimental design. Both the original and nonsense BEL sentences, all recorded by the same four talkers, are publicly available. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13022900

An Eye-Tracking Study on Audiovisual Speech Perception Strategies Adopted by Normal-Hearing and Deaf Adults Under Different Language Familiarities

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 2245-2254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianrong Wang ◽  
Yumeng Zhu ◽  
Yu Chen ◽  
Abdilbar Mamat ◽  
Mei Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Audiovisual Speech ◽  
Audiovisual Speech Perception ◽  
Allocation Pattern ◽  
Deaf Adults ◽  
Bilingual Speaker ◽  
Primary Hypothesis ◽  
Standard Chinese

Purpose The primary purpose of this study was to explore the audiovisual speech perception strategies.80.23.47 adopted by normal-hearing and deaf people in processing familiar and unfamiliar languages. Our primary hypothesis was that they would adopt different perception strategies due to different sensory experiences at an early age, limitations of the physical device, and the developmental gap of language, and others. Method Thirty normal-hearing adults and 33 prelingually deaf adults participated in the study. They were asked to perform judgment and listening tasks while watching videos of a Uygur–Mandarin bilingual speaker in a familiar language (Standard Chinese) or an unfamiliar language (Modern Uygur) while their eye movements were recorded by eye-tracking technology. Results Task had a slight influence on the distribution of selective attention, whereas subject and language had significant influences. To be specific, the normal-hearing and the d10eaf participants mainly gazed at the speaker's eyes and mouth, respectively, in the experiment; moreover, while the normal-hearing participants had to stare longer at the speaker's mouth when they confronted with the unfamiliar language Modern Uygur, the deaf participant did not change their attention allocation pattern when perceiving the two languages. Conclusions Normal-hearing and deaf adults adopt different audiovisual speech perception strategies: Normal-hearing adults mainly look at the eyes, and deaf adults mainly look at the mouth. Additionally, language and task can also modulate the speech perception strategy.

Phrase-Learning in Deaf and Hearing Subjects

1967 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 600-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penelope B. Odom ◽  
Richard L. Blanton
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Fifth Graders ◽  
English Word ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Twelfth Graders ◽  
Memory Processes ◽  
Study Test ◽  
The Mean

Two groups each containing 24 deaf subjects were compared with 24 fifth graders and 24 twelfth graders with normal hearing on the learning of segments of written English. Eight subjects from each group learned phrasally defined segments such as “paid the tall lady,” eight more learned the same words in nonphrases having acceptable English word order such as “lady paid the tall,” and the remaining eight in each group learned the same words scrambled, “lady tall the paid.” The task consisted of 12 study-test trials. Analyses of the mean number of words recalled correctly and the probability of recalling the whole phrase correctly, given that one word of it was recalled, indicated that both ages of hearing subjects showed facilitation on the phrasally defined segments, interference on the scrambled segments. The deaf groups showed no differential recall as a function of phrasal structure. It was concluded that the deaf do not possess the same perceptual or memory processes with regard to English as do the hearing subjects.

Vowel Recognition Threshold as a Function of Temporal Segmentations

1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 715-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Powell ◽  
Oscar Tosi
Keyword(s):  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Recognition Threshold ◽  
Vowel Sound ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Vowel Recognition ◽  
Temporal Segment

Vowels were segmented into 15 different temporal segments taken from the middle of the vowel and ranging from 4 to 60 msecs, then presented to 6 subjects with normal hearing. The mean temporal-segment recognition threshold of 15 msecs with a range from 9.3 msecs for the /u/ to 27.2 milliseconds for the /a/. Misidenti-fication of vowels was most often confused with the vowel sound adjacent to it on the vowel-hump diagram. There was no significant difference between the cardinal and noncardinal vowels.

scholarly journals Logatome Discrimination in Cochlear Implant Users: Subjective Tests Compared to the Mismatch Negativity

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 329-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torsten Rahne ◽  
Michael Ziese ◽  
Dorothea Rostalski ◽  
Roland Mühler
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Cochlear Implant ◽  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Discrimination Test ◽  
Speech Database ◽  
Automated Speech Recognition ◽  
Related Potentials

This paper describes a logatome discrimination test for the assessment of speech perception in cochlear implant users (CI users), based on a multilingual speech database, the Oldenburg Logatome Corpus, which was originally recorded for the comparison of human and automated speech recognition. The logatome discrimination task is based on the presentation of 100 logatome pairs (i.e., nonsense syllables) with balanced representations of alternating “vowel-replacement” and “consonant-replacement” paradigms in order to assess phoneme confusions. Thirteen adult normal hearing listeners and eight adult CI users, including both good and poor performers, were included in the study and completed the test after their speech intelligibility abilities were evaluated with an established sentence test in noise. Furthermore, the discrimination abilities were measured electrophysiologically by recording the mismatch negativity (MMN) as a component of auditory event-related potentials. The results show a clear MMN response only for normal hearing listeners and CI users with good performance, correlating with their logatome discrimination abilities. Higher discrimination scores for vowel-replacement paradigms than for the consonant-replacement paradigms were found. We conclude that the logatome discrimination test is well suited to monitor the speech perception skills of CI users. Due to the large number of available spoken logatome items, the Oldenburg Logatome Corpus appears to provide a useful and powerful basis for further development of speech perception tests for CI users.

scholarly journals Effect of Auditory Maturation on the Encoding of a Speech Syllable in the First Days of Life

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 844
Author(s):  
Laís Ferreira ◽  
Piotr Henryk Skarzynski ◽  
Magdalena Beata Skarzynska ◽  
Milaine Dominici Sanfins ◽  
Eliara Pinto Vieira Biaggio
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Auditory Maturation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Sound Changes ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Neonates And Infants

(1) Background: In neonates and infants, the physiological modifications associated with language development are reflected in their Frequency Following Responses (FFRs) in the first few months of life. (2) Objective: This study aimed to test the FFRs of infants in the first 45 days of life in order to evaluate how auditory maturation affects the encoding of a speech syllable. (3) Method: In total, 80 healthy, normal-hearing infants, aged 3 to 45 days old, participated in this study. The sample was divided into three groups: GI, 38 neonates from 3 to 15 days; GII, 25 infants from 16 to 30 days; and GIII, 17 infants from 31 to 45 days. All participants underwent FFR testing. Results: With age, there was a decrease in the latency of all FFR waves, with statistically significant differences among the groups studied for waves V, A, E, F, and O. The mean amplitudes showed an increase, with a statistically significant difference only for wave V. The slope measure increased over the 45 days, with a statistically significant difference between GIII and GI and between GIII and GII. (4) Conclusions: The encoding of a speech sound changes with auditory maturation over the first 45 days of an infant’s life.

scholarly journals In vitro validation of Digital Image Analysis Sequence (DIAS) for the assessment of the marginal fit of cement-retained implant-supported experimental crowns

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aristeidis A. Villias ◽  
Stefanos G. Kourtis ◽  
Hercules C. Karkazis ◽  
Gregory L. Polyzois
Keyword(s):  
Image Analysis ◽  
Digital Image ◽  
Confidence Level ◽  
Digital Image Analysis ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Interobserver Reliability ◽  
Intraclass Correlation ◽  
Marginal Fit ◽  
Smallest Detectable Change ◽  
The Mean

Abstract Background The replica technique with its modifications (negative replica) has been used for the assessment of marginal fit (MF). However, identification of the boundaries between prosthesis, cement, and abutment is challenging. The recently developed Digital Image Analysis Sequence (DIAS) addresses this limitation. Although DIAS is applicable, its reliability has not yet been proven. The purpose of this study was to verify the DIAS as an acceptable method for the quantitative assessment of MF at cemented crowns, by conducting statistical tests of agreement between different examiners. Methods One hundred fifty-one implant-supported experimental crowns were cemented. Equal negative replicas were produced from the assemblies. Each replica was sectioned in six parts, which were photographed under an optical microscope. From the 906 standardized digital photomicrographs (0.65 μm/pixel), 130 were randomly selected for analysis. DIAS included tracing the profile of the crown and the abutment and marking the margin definition points before cementation. Next, the traced and marked outlines were superimposed on each digital image, highlighting the components’ boundaries and enabling MF measurements. One researcher ran the analysis twice and three others once, independently. Five groups of 130 measurements were formed. Intra- and interobserver reliability was evaluated with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Agreement was estimated with the standard error of measurement (SEM), the smallest detectable change at the 95% confidence level (SDC95%), and the Bland and Altman method of limits of agreement (LoA). Results Measured MF ranged between 22.83 and 286.58 pixels. Both the intra- and interobserver reliability were excellent, ICC = 1 at 95% confidence level. The intra- and interobserver SEM and SDC95% were less than 1 and 3 pixels, respectively. The Bland–Altman analysis presented graphically high level of agreement between the mean measurement of the first observer and each of the three other observers’ measurements. Differences between observers were normally distributed. In all three cases, the mean difference was less than 1 pixel and within ± 3 pixels LoA laid at least 95% of differences. T tests of the differences did not reveal any fixed bias (P > .05, not significant). Conclusion The DIAS is an objective and reliable method able to detect and quantify MF at ranges observed in clinical practice.

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