The relation between stimulus context, speech audibility, and perception far normal-hearing and hearing-impaired children

Author(s): Hoover, B. M., Lewis, D. E., Kortekaas, R. W. L., Pittman, A. L.

Journal/Book: J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2000; 43: 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852-3279, USA. Amer Speech-Language-Hearing Assoc. 902-914.

Abstract: In this study, the influence of stimulus context and audibility on sentence recognition was assessed in 60 normal-hearing children, 23 hearing-impaired children, and 20 normal-hearing adults. Performance-intensity (PI) functions were obtained for 60 semantically correct and 60 semantically anomalous sentences. For each participant, an audibility index (Al) was calculated at each presentation level, and a logistic function was fitted to rau-transformed percent-correct values to estimate the SPL and AI required to achieve 70% performance. For both types of sentences, there was a systematic age-related shift in the PI functions, suggesting that young children require a higher Al to achieve performance equivalent to that of adults. Improvement in performance with the addition of semantic context was statistically significant only for the normal-hearing 5-year-olds and adults. Data From the hearing-impaired children showed age-related trends that were similar to those of the normal-hearing children, with the majority of individual data Falling within the 5th and 95th percentile of normal. The implications of these Findings in terms of hearing-aid fitting strategies for young children are discussed.

Note: Article Stelmachowicz PG, Boys Town Natl Res Hosp, 555 N 30th St, Omaha,NE 68131 USA

Keyword(s): audibility; speech perception; context; hearing loss; children; CONTROLLED WORD PREDICTABILITY; FREQUENCY-SELECTIVITY; ONSET TIME; ADULTS; DISCRIMINATION; NOISE; INTELLIGIBILITY; RECOGNITION; THRESHOLDS; PREDICTIONS

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