Lexical Neighborhood Test: Test-Retest Reliability and Interlist Equivalency

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AbstractThis study examined the reliability and interlist equivalency of two new recorded spoken word recognition measures, the Lexical Neighborhood Test (LNT) and the Multisyllabic Lexical Neighborhood Test (MLNT), and evaluated the effects of lexical difficulty on spoken word recognition by children with hearing loss. Participants were 16 children with prelingual, profound deafness who used a cochlear implant. Test-retest reliability was high and no significant interlist differences were observed for both measures. In addition, we found that lexically "easy" words (i.e., those that occur often and have few phonemically words with which they are similar) were recognized correctly more often than lexically "hard" words (i.e., those with opposite characteristics). The results demonstrate that the LNT and MLNT provide reliable information about the spoken word recognition abilities of children with profound hearing loss who use cochlear implants. In addition, these new measures also provide more detailed information about the way in which these children organize and access spoken words from long-term lexical memory. Abbreviations: CHILDES = Child Language Data Exchange System; LNT = Lexical Neighborhood Test; MLNT = Multisyllabic Lexical Neighborhood Test; NAM = Neighborhood Activation Model; OC = oral communication; PB-K = Phonetically Balanced Kindergarten Word Lists; PTA = average of the pure-tone threshold hearing levels at 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz; SPL = speech presentation level; TC = total communication