The Australian Staggered Spondaic Word Test (ASSW)

Abstract

The American English EC recording of the Staggered Spondaic Word Test (EC SSW), first introduced by Katz in 1962, remains one of the most widely used audiological tests for the identification of auditory sites-of-lesion and (central) auditory processing disorder ([C]APD). This use has seen the EC SSW rerecorded into several different languages and dialects, including an Australian English recording produced by Golding, Lilly and Lay in 1996: the Macquarie SSW (MSSW). The MSSW used a 'peak energy alignment' method to overlap its competing monosyllables, whereas the original EC SSW had used a 'perceptual simultaneity' method, with some authors suggesting such a difference could affect test performance. This paper describes the creation and trialling of a new SSW Test in Australian English - the Australian SSW (ASSW) - where the competing monosyllables were overlapped using the same 'perceptual simultaneity' method used in the EC SSW. The preliminary results indicate that the ASSW will be a valuable alternative to the MSSW, and a valuable tool in the identification of (C)APD in adult speakers of Australian English.