Phoneme Discrimination Test Research Articles

Hearing and Language Skills in Children Using Hearing Aids: Experimental Intervention Study.

Hearing loss in childhood compromises a child's auditory, linguistic, and social skill development. Stimulation and early intervention through therapy and the use of personal sound amplification devices (PSAPs) are important for improving communication. To verify the effectiveness of speech therapy intervention on the auditory and linguistic skills of Brazilian children aged between 6 and 8 years using PSAPs. Experimental study analyzing the intervention process in children aged between 6 and 8 years with mild to severe bilateral hearing loss and prelingual deafness who are PSAP users. Diagnostic information was analyzed, and assessments and interventions were carried out using the Glendonald Auditory Screening Procedure (GASP), a phoneme discrimination test with figures (TFDF), an expressive language category classification test, and an Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS) questionnaire. Sixteen children participated in the study; they were divided into a control group (CG) of six children and an intervention group (IG) of ten children. All research subjects underwent two protocol application sessions, and the IG underwent six speech therapy intervention sessions. In the IT-MAIS, the CG had a 9% increase in score, and the IG had an increase of 3% after intervention. The TFDF obtained a 5% increase in the IG in terms of phonemic discrimination ability. The expressive language category classification tests and GASP were considered not sensitive enough to modify the parameters of auditory and linguistic skills. The study found a significant improvement amongst the IG in the TFDF protocol and an increase in IT-MAIS scores in both groups.

Validation of the acoustic change complex (ACC) prediction model to predict speech perception in noise in adult patients with hearing loss: a study protocol

BackgroundSpeech perception tests are essential to measure the functional use of hearing and to determine the effectiveness of hearing aids and implantable auditory devices. However, these language-based tests require active participation and are influenced by linguistic and neurocognitive skills limiting their use in patients with insufficient language proficiency, cognitive impairment, or in children. We recently developed a non-attentive and objective speech perception prediction model: the Acoustic Change Complex (ACC) prediction model. The ACC prediction model uses electroencephalography to measure alterations in cortical auditory activity caused by frequency changes. The aim is to validate this model in a large-scale external validation study in adult patients with varying degrees of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) to confirm the high predictive value of the ACC model and to assess its test–retest reliability.MethodsA total of 80 participants, aged 18–65 years, will be enrolled in the study. The categories of severity of hearing loss will be used as a blocking factor to establish an equal distribution of patients with various degrees of sensorineural hearing loss. During the first visit, pure tone audiometry, speech in noise tests, a phoneme discrimination test, and the first ACC measurement will be performed. During the second visit (after 1–4 weeks), the same ACC measurement will be performed to assess the test–retest reliability. The acoustic change stimuli for ACC measurements consist of a reference tone with a base frequency of 1000, 2000, or 4000 Hz with a duration of 3000 ms, gliding to a 300-ms target tone with a frequency that is 12% higher than the base frequency. The primary outcome measures are (1) the level of agreement between the predicted speech reception threshold (SRT) and the behavioral SRT, and (2) the level of agreement between the SRT calculated by the first ACC measurement and the SRT of the second ACC measurement. Level of agreement will be assessed with Bland–Altman plots.DiscussionPrevious studies by our group have shown the high predictive value of the ACC model. The successful validation of this model as an effective and reliable biomarker of speech perception will directly benefit the general population, as it will increase the accuracy of hearing evaluations and improve access to adequate hearing rehabilitation.

Auditory Discrimination—A Missing Piece of Speech and Language Development: A Study on 6–9-Year-Old Children with Auditory Processing Disorder

Auditory discrimination, the hearing ability crucial for speech and language development, allowing one to perceive changes in volume, duration and frequency of sounds, was assessed for 366 participants with normal peripheral hearing: 220 participants with auditory processing disorders (APD) and 146 typically developing (TD) children, all aged 6-9 years. Discrimination of speech was tested with nonsense words using the phoneme discrimination test (PDT), while pure tones-with the frequency pattern test (FPT). The obtained results were statistically analyzed and correlated. The median of the FPT results obtained by participants with APD was more than twice lower than those of TD (20% vs. 50%; p < 0.05), similarly in the PDT (21 vs. 24; p < 0.05). The FPT results of 9-year-old APD participants were worse than the results of TD 6-year-olds (30% vs. 40%; p < 0.05), indicating that the significant FPT deficit strongly suggests APD. The process of auditory discrimination development does not complete with the acquisition of phonemes but continues during school age. Physiological phonemes discrimination is not yet equalized among 9-year-olds. Nonsense word tests allow for reliable testing of phoneme discrimination. APD children require testing with PDT and FPT because both test results allow for developing individual therapeutic programs.

The development of linguistic stimuli for the Swedish Situated Phoneme test

AbstractThe speech perception ability of people with hearing loss can be efficiently measured using phonemic-level scoring. We aimed to develop linguistic stimuli suitable for a closed-set phonemic discrimination test in the Swedish language called the Situated Phoneme (SiP) test. The SiP test stimuli that we developed consisted of real monosyllabic words with minimal phonemic contrast, realised by phonetically similar phones. The lexical and sublexical factors of word frequency, phonological neighbourhood density, phonotactic probability, and orthographic transparency were similar between all contrasting words. Each test word was recorded five times by two different speakers, including one male and one female. The accuracy of the test-word recordings was evaluated by 28 normal-hearing subjects in a listening experiment with a silent background using a closed-set design. With a few exceptions, all test words could be correctly discriminated. We discuss the results in terms of content- and construct-validity implications for the Swedish SiP test.

Factors affecting phoneme discrimination in children with sequential bilateral cochlear implants

Objectives To investigate the effects of a number of variables on phoneme discrimination (PD) performance in children with sequential bilateral cochlear implants (SeqBiCIs) and compare PD performance between the 2 implantation sides and between children with bilateral cochlear implants (BiCIs) and their age-matched peers with normal hearing (NH). Design All participants completed the Auditory Speech Sound Evaluation Phoneme Discrimination Test. Study sample The sample included 23 children with SeqBiCIs as the study group and 23 with NH as the control group. Results A significant difference was found between the scores of the two groups under the CI1 and CI2 conditions (p = 0.001), CI1 and BiCI conditions (p = 0.002), and CI2 and BiCI conditions (p = 0.001). PD scores with CI1 significantly depend on age at CI1 and duration of bilateral use. PD scores with CI1 were significant predictors of PD performance with CI2. Duration of BiCI use was a significant predictor of PD scores with BiCI. Conclusions The age at CI1 and the duration of bilateral cochlear implant use were found to improve phoneme discrimination performance in children with a sequential bilateral cochlear implant. According to the success of the CI1, it is possible to predict the success of CI2 use.

The Development of a Paediatric Phoneme Discrimination Test for Arabic Phonemic Contrasts.

Objective: The aim of this project was to develop the Arabic CAPT (A-CAPT), a Standard Arabic version of the CHEAR auditory perception test (CAPT) that assesses consonant perception ability in children. Method: This closed-set test was evaluated with normal-hearing children aged 5 to 11 years. Development and validation of the speech materials were accomplished in two experimental phases. Twenty-six children participated in phase I, where the test materials were piloted to ensure that the selected words were age appropriate and that the form of Arabic used was familiar to the children. Sixteen children participated in phase II where test–retest reliability, age effects, and critical differences were measured. A computerized implementation was used to present stimuli and collect responses. Children selected one of four response options displayed on a screen for each trial. Results: Two lists of 32 words were developed with two levels of difficulty, easy and hard. Assessment of test–retest reliability for the final version of the lists showed a strong agreement. A within-subject ANOVA showed no significant difference between test and retest sessions. Performance improved with increasing age. Critical difference values were similar to the British English version of the CAPT. Conclusions: The A-CAPT is an appropriate speech perception test for assessing Arabic-speaking children as young as 5 years old. This test can reliably assess consonant perception ability and monitor changes over time or after an intervention.

Relationship between auditory discrimination of Serbian language phonemes and dysgraphia in different forms of written expression

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Introduction. Writing is the most complex human ability and the most direct form of communication. Auditory discrimination is the ability to distinguish different sounds of language. After the age of seven, difficulties in auditory discrimination, even of similar sounds, are considered a pathological phenomenon. The aim of the research was to determine whether difficulties in auditory discrimination of phonemes are related to the manifestation of dysgraphia in children of younger school age. Methods. The research was conducted at the Elementary School &amp;quot;Vuk Karadzić&amp;quot; in Priboj, during 2020, with the previous consent of the school principal, as well as the students' parents. The research sample included fifty children of the third and fourth grade, aged 9 and 10. For the purpose of this research, two tests were used: the Phonemic Discrimination Test (Kostić, Vladisavljević, Popović, 1983) and the Dysgraphic Handwriting Assessment Test (Ajuriaguerra, Auzias. 1971). Results. There was no significant difference in achievement in the Phonemic Discrimination Test between boys and girls. Half of the tested students achieved the maximum score in the Phonemic Discrimination Test and they were fairly equal in their achievement in the Phonemic Discrimination Test. Girls generally had harmoniously developed handwriting, while more than half of the boys in the categories had inconsistent handwriting or dysgraphic handwriting when it came to the forms of dictation, free topic and transcription. No statistically significant correlations were found between the results in the Phonemic Discrimination Test and the Dysgraphic Handwriting Assessment Test, p &amp;amp;gt; 0.05. Conclusion. Based on the assessment of writing ability and auditory discrimination in young school children, no statistically significant association was found between auditory discrimination of sounds and manifestations of dysgraphic handwriting in all three forms of written expression (dictation, free topic, transcription).&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

Developing a New Shadowing Procedure for Japanese EFL Learners

Shadowing, a practice of repeating what one hears as simultaneously and accurately as possible, has been researched in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) field for years. The research findings have shown that shadowing contributes to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ bottom-up listening skills, which leads to their overall listening comprehension skills. However, the accumulated research findings have not uncovered what aspects of bottom-up skills shadowing precisely contributes to. Thus, this study attempts to examine the aspects of bottom-up skills to which shadowing contributes and proposes a new shadowing procedure to compensate for the limitation of the current shadowing procedure. To this end, a preliminary study and a primary study were conducted. In the preliminary study, the bottom-up skill development through shadowing practice was precisely examined, using a 112-item bottom-up listening test. Thirty-six Japanese university students participated in the experiment and engaged in shadowing practice in eight lessons for a month. The result showed that shadowing practice was effective for developing the skill of identifying prominence in a speech, and word recognition skills but not effective for enhancing phonemic discrimination skills. In the primary study, to overcome the limitation of the shadowing procedure, a new shadowing procedure including three components of attention to output, corrective feedback, and explicit instruction was proposed. Twelve Japanese university students participated and engaged in the new shadowing procedure for three months. Their progress was assessed by a 32-item phonemic discrimination test, and the result showed that the new output-based shadowing procedure with explicit instruction and corrective feedback improved phonemic discrimination skills for intermediate level Japanese EFL learners.

The Treatment Based on Temporal Information Processing Reduces Speech Comprehension Deficits in Aphasic Subjects.

Experimental studies have reported a close association between temporal information processing (TIP) and language comprehension. Brain-injured subjects with aphasia show disturbed TIP which was evidenced in elevated temporal order threshold (TOT) as compared to control subjects. The present study is aimed at improving auditory speech comprehension in aphasic subjects using a specific temporal treatment. Fourteen patients having deficits in both speech comprehension and TIP were tested. The Token Test, phoneme discrimination tests (PDT) and Voice-Onset-Time (VOT) Test were employed to assess speech comprehension. The TOT was measured using two 10 ms tones (400 Hz, 3000 Hz) presented binaurally. The patients participated in eight 45-min sessions of either the specific temporal treatment (n = 7) aimed at improving the perception of sequencing abilities, or in a non-temporal control treatment (n = 7) on volume discrimination. The temporal treatment yielded an improvement in TIP. Moreover, a transfer of improvement from the time domain to the language domain was observed. The control treatment did not improve either TIP or speech comprehension in any of the applied tests.

Evaluation of auditory processing and phonemic discrimination in children with normal and disordered phonological development

AbstractAuditory processing and phonemic discrimination are essential for communication. Type of study: Retrospective. AimTo evaluate auditory processing and phonemic discrimination in children with normal and disordered phonological development. Material and MethodsAn evaluation of 46 children was carried out: 22 had phonological disorders and 24 had normally developing speech. Diotic, monotic and dichotic tests were applied to assess auditory processing and a test to evaluate phonemic discrimination abilities. DesignCross-sectional, contemporary. ResultsThe values of normally-developing children were within the normal range in all auditory processing tests; these children attained maximum phonemic discrimination test scores. Children with phonological disorders performed worse in the latter, and presented disordered auditory processing. ConclusionAuditory processing and phonemic discrimination in children with phonological disorders are altered.

Pronunciation proficiency and musical aptitude in Spanish as a foreign language: results of an experimental research project

This paper examines the correlation between musical aptitude and pronunciation proficiency in an experiment with 29 university students of Spanish as a foreign language. The 29 participants took a test in Spanish pronunciation and prosody as well as in musicality. The pronunciation and prosody test consisted of two parts. The first part was a receptive phonemic discrimination test and the second part was a productive test in which they had to repeat words and sentences chosen for their prosodic characteristics. The musical aptitude test also consisted of a receptive part on musicality in general, as well as a productive part, which included the reproduction of tones, tone intervals, rhythms and the singing of a melody. The statistical analysis with Pearson’s correlation-coefficients revealed a positive correlation (although not for all aspects) between the musical and foreign language pronunciation proficiency aptitudes. The results are commented on in the discussion. Relevant teaching implications are included in the conclusion.

Phonemic discrimination and the relationship with other linguistic levels in children with typical phonological development and phonological disorder.

To compare children with typical language development (TLD) and evolutional phonological disorder (EPD) regarding the phonemic discrimination and the linguistic performance of language levels (morphological, syntactic, semantic, and perceptual and productive vocabulary). The sample comprised 36 children, aged between 5 years and 7 years and 11 months, with TLD and EPD. Children with EPD were awaiting care in the speech units of two higher education institutions and children with TLD were screened in public schools. For inclusion in the study, the criteria were the following: being authorized by the informed consent and being within the required age group. After the inclusion of children, all subjects underwent the phonemic discrimination test with figures, to the average phrase value test, which assesses the morphosyntactic and semantic/lexical aspects, and the expressive vocabulary test. For statistical evaluation of the influence of variables, Spearman's nonparametric correlation coefficient was used, and for comparison between the groups regarding evaluation performance, Mann-Whitney test was used. Only children with EPD showed influence of phonemic discrimination in other linguistic levels. In addition, a significant difference was observed between the performances of both groups in relation to the phonemic discrimination, vocabulary, and all levels assessed in the questions and description modality. The comparison between both groups showed a statistically significant difference in phonemic discrimination and morphosyntactic and lexical/semantic development, with better performance in the TLD group.

Temporal information processing as a basis for auditory comprehension: clinical evidence from aphasic patients.

Temporal information processing (TIP) underlies many aspects of cognitive functions like language, motor control, learning, memory, attention, etc. Millisecond timing may be assessed by sequencing abilities, e.g. the perception of event order. It may be measured with auditory temporal-order-threshold (TOT), i.e. a minimum time gap separating two successive stimuli necessary for a subject to report their temporal order correctly, thus the relation 'before-after'. Neuropsychological evidence has indicated elevated TOT values (corresponding to deteriorated time perception) in different clinical groups, such as aphasic patients, dyslexic subjects or children with specific language impairment. To test relationships between elevated TOT and declined cognitive functions in brain-injured patients suffering from post-stroke aphasia. We tested 30 aphasic patients (13 male, 17 female), aged between 50 and 81 years. TIP comprised assessment of TOT. Auditory comprehension was assessed with the selected language tests, i.e. Token Test, Phoneme Discrimination Test (PDT) and Voice-Onset-Time Test (VOT), while two aspects of attentional resources (i.e. alertness and vigilance) were measured using the Test of Attentional Performance (TAP) battery. Significant correlations were indicated between elevated values of TOT and deteriorated performance on all applied language tests. Moreover, significant correlations were evidenced between elevated TOT and alertness. Finally, positive correlations were found between particular language tests, i.e. (1) Token Test and PDT; (2) Token Test and VOT Test; and (3) PDT and VOT Test, as well as between PDT and both attentional tasks. These results provide further clinical evidence supporting the thesis that TIP constitutes the core process incorporated in both language and attentional resources. The novel value of the present study is the indication for the first time in Slavic language users a clear coexistence of the 'timing-auditory comprehension-attention' relationships.

The lexical development of children with hearing impairment and associated factors.

This study aimed at analyzing the association between the lexical development of children with hearing impairment and their psychosocial and socioeconomic characteristics and medical history. An analytic transversal study was conducted in an Auditive Health Attention Service. One hundred and ten children from 6 to 10 years old using hearing aids and presenting hearing loss that ranged from light to deep levels were evaluated. All children were subjected to oral, written language and auditory perception tests. Parents answered a structured questionnaire to collect data from their medical history and socioeconomic status, and questionnaires about the features of the family environment and psychosocial characteristics. Multivariate analysis was performed by logistic regression, being the initial model composed by variables with p<0,20 in the univariate analysis. In the final model, we adopted a significance level of 5%. The final model of the multivariate analysis showed an association between the performance on the vocabulary test and the results of phonemic discrimination test (OR=0.81; 95%CI 0.73-0.89). The results show the importance of stimulating the auditory processing, particularly the phonemic discrimination skill, throughout the rehabilitation process of children with hearing impairment. This stimulation can enhance lexical development and minimize the metalanguage and learning difficulties often observed in these children.

Hörmerkspanne und basale phonologische Verarbeitung bei Vorschulkindern

Phoneme discrimination tests based on presenting minimal pairs (MP) are frequently used to assess auditory processing. However, test results may be influenced by other factors beside correct acoustic representation. Here we studied if working memory capacity (WMC) correlates with reproducing sets of minimal pairs. Participants were 161 preschool children whereby WMC was evaluated by memory span for digits and MPs were either real words or non-words (logatoms). Both real word MPs and logatom MPs were presented in doublets or triplets. Children were asked to repeat what they had heard. Correlation analysis was performed using Spearman rank correlation. All four test item blocks showed a significant positive correlation to WMC (group values). Data from individuals indicated that some children with poor WMC performed sufficiently on MP discrimination and vice versa. Besides confirming the phonological similarity effect our data indicate a significant interdependence between different processes and phonological representations (according to the Logogen model). This must be taken into account when using MP tests for evaluating "auditory processing" in the clinical routine. However, poor WMC is neither necessary nor obligatory for poor phoneme discrimination.

Phonemic perception under noise condition by early and late learners of English

This study investigated long-term age effects of minimal input in an English as a foreign language (EFL) environment on the perception of English phonemes. Ten native speakers of American English, 10 university students who started studying English in Japan for a few hours a week between ages of three and eight (early learners), and 10 university students who began study in junior high school at the age of 12 or 13 (late learners) participated in a phonemic discrimination test. The selected target phonemes were tense vs. lax vowels ([i, ɪ], [u, U]) and word-initial approximants ([l,r]). Three monosyllabic words were selected for each phoneme (e.g., beat, bit). Each pair of words was tested as six different tri-word trials (e.g., AAB, ABA) with and without the presence of a white noise. The participants were asked to choose the odd out in each trial. Results showed that although the early and late learners did not significantly differ across the phonemes in the discrimination test given without any noise, the former outperformed the latter under noise condition (p < 0.05). The findings support Lin et al.'s (2004) hypothesis that early learners are likely to establish more robust phonemic categories than late learners.

Lautanalyse und Lautdiskrimination jugendlicher Sprachheilschüler

Phoneme analysis and phoneme discrimination, important factors in acquiring spoken and written language, have been evaluated in juvenile speech therapy school students. The results have been correlated with the results of a school achievement test. The following questions were of interest: Do students in the lower verbal skill segment show pathological phoneme analysis and phoneme discrimination skills? Do the results of the school achievement test differ from the results by students visiting German "Hauptschule"? How does phoneme analysis and phoneme discrimination performance correlate to other tested parameters? 74 students of a speech therapy school ranging from 7 (th) to 9 (th) grade were examined (ages 12;10-17;04) with the Heidelberg Phoneme Discrimination Test H-LAD and the school achievement test "Prüfsystem für Schul- und Bildungsberatung PSB-R 6-13". Compared to 4 (th) graders the juvenile speech therapy school students showed worse results in the H-LAD test with good differentiation in the lower measuring range. In the PSB-R 6-13 test the examined students did worse compared to students visiting German "Hauptschule" for all grades except 9 (th) grade. Comparing H-LAD and PSB-R 6-13 shows a significant correlation for the sub-tests covering language competence and intelligence but not for the concentration tests. Pathological phoneme analysis and phoneme discrimination skills suggest elevated need for counseling, but this needs to corroborated through additional linguistic parameters and measuring non-verbal intelligence. Further trails are needed in order to clarify whether the results can lead to sophisticated therapy algorithms for educational purposes.

Testing Auditory Skills in Children CI Users: Is Phonemic Discrimination Related to Acoustic Variables Only?

Theory suggests that improvements in speech perception can be linked to optimiza-tion of Cochlear Implant (CI) sound processing. At the same time, outcomes should be evaluated taking into account cognitive variables such as working memory and attention span. In particular this last variable, although it does not play a direct role in the specific processes of audition and language, may still influence speech perception and language production in children and may also influence outcomes.All studies focusing on speech coding strategy effects in the paediatric population have underlined the difficulties in discriminating the effect of a particular strategy from progress naturally acquired through learning. Better chances could be offered by tests that evaluate speech skills which are the least possibly linked to the cognitive asset as well as to rehabilitation characteristics. Discrimination is — in all Erber’s categories — the one that is less influenced by cognitive abilities that are required to perform closed and open set recognition tasks, where discrimination is the first ability to be developed by the deaf child after cochlear implantation (Hillenbrand, 1983). The ability to discriminate phonemes is considered to be basically language independent and their perception is less dependent upon a learning process. Phoneme discrimination tests have been developed to test children with the intention of optimizing prostheses regulation processes (Govaerts et al., 2006). One of the disad-vantages of a contrast-based discrimination test is the potential lack of behavioural response to small perceptive differences. Vowels are easier to discriminate than consonants such as /z/, /v/, and /s/ both in infants and older children. From personal experience, phoneme contrast-based tests are extremely useful in evaluating CI children (Mancini et al., 2009), although results should be interpreted only in a contest of well-matched age and attention span. With this assumption, phoneme discrimination can be used as an evaluation test for different speech coding strategies. Starting from this assumption, the authors correlated open-set phoneme discrimination outcomes with attention span in a group of children with cochlear implants.Published by Maney Publishing (c) W. S. Maney & Son Limited

Die Bedeutung der Phonemdiskrimination für eine Lese-Rechtschreibstörung in den Klassenstufen eins bis sechs

The research on phoneme discrimination in connection with dyslexia has focused mostly on reading ability. The aim of this study was to analyse phoneme discrimination in relation to spelling ability in the context of different school grades. The data of 253 children in school grades 1 to 6 who were seen for diagnosis of dyslexia and auditory processing disorder were analyzed retrospectively. Phoneme discrimination was assessed via the Heidelberger Phoneme Discrimination Test at 3 levels: auditory discrimination, repetition of minimal pairs, and analyzing the initial consonants in phoneme clusters. We found a high correlation of phoneme discrimination and spelling ability in the lower school grades. While the phoneme discrimination deficit still showed up in higher grades, its influence on spelling ability was greater in the first two grades. In the whole population, phoneme discrimination proved to be a significant criterion for differentiating poor and normal spelling ability. Speech and language therapy and auditory processing training for dyslexic children should be adjusted according to these results.

The effect of working memory, semantic access, and listening abilities on the comprehension of conversational implicatures in L2 English

This research examined the extent to which pragmatic comprehension, namely accurate and speedy comprehension of conversational implicatures, is related to cognitive processing skills and general listening abilities. Thirty-five Japanese students learning English as a second language completed five tasks: (1) a pragmatic listening test (PLT) that measured the ability to comprehend implied speakers’ intentions, (2) a phonemic discrimination test, (3) a listening section of the institutional TOEFL, (4) a working memory test, and (5) a lexical access test that measured the ability to make speedy semantic judgment. The students’ pragmatic comprehension was analyzed for accuracy (scores) and comprehension speed (time taken to answer items correctly). Results revealed a significant relationship between accuracy scores of the PLT and the TOEFL listening scores, but not with phonemic discrimination ability. Response time of pragmatic listening significantly correlated with the semantic access speed, but not with working memory.