Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine talker differences for subjectively rated speech clarity in clear versus conversational speech, to determine whether ratings differ for young adults with normal hearing (YNH listeners) and older adults with hearing impairment (OHI listeners), and to explore effects of certain talker characteristics…

Purpose: Specific language impairment (SLI) is characterized by a delay in language acquisition despite a lack of other developmental delays or hearing loss. Genetics of SLI is poorly understood. The purpose of this study is to identify SLI genetic loci through family-based linkage mapping. Method: We performed genome-wide parametric linkage…

This study is an evaluation of the performance of automated speech scoring for speakers with documented or suspected speech impairments. Given that the use of automated scoring of open-ended spoken responses is relatively nascent and there is little research to date that includes test takers with disabilities, this small exploratory study focuses…

Purpose: This study examined the effects of consistent hearing aid (HA) use on outcomes in children with mild hearing loss (HL). Method: Five- or 7-year-old children with mild HL were separated into 3 groups on the basis of patterns of daily HA use. Using analyses of variance, we compared outcomes between groups on speech and language tests and a…

Objectives: The purpose of the current study was to examine the relation between speech intelligibility and prosody production in children who use cochlear implants. Methods: The Beginner's Intelligibility Test (BIT) and Prosodic Utterance Production (PUP) task were administered to 15 children who use cochlear implants and 10 children with normal…

Purpose: This investigation sought to determine whether scores from a commonly used word-based articulation test are closely associated with speech intelligibility in children with hearing loss. If the scores are closely related, articulation testing results might be used to estimate intelligibility. If not, the importance of direct assessment of…

English language learners (ELLs) with disabilities are required to participate in all state and district assessments similar to their peers without disabilities. This includes assessments used for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I accountability purposes for demonstrating proficiency in academic content, assessments used…

Purpose: The effects of multichannel expansion on the objective and subjective evaluation of 20 listeners fitted binaurally with 4-channel, digital in-the-ear hearing instruments were investigated. Method: Objective evaluations were conducted in quiet using the Connected Speech Test (CST) and in noise using the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) at 40,…

The article compares use of two acoustical indexes, the Articulation Index and the Speech Transmission Index with both normal hearing and hearing impaired subjects and concludes that a hybrid index which takes the best features from each procedure is the best alternative presently available. (Author/DB)

Programs (N=182) providing speech assessment services to hearing-impaired children were surveyed. Frequency of use scores and rankings are reported for test instruments frequently used for assessment at the infant, preschool, primary, and secondary educational levels. Domains tested and stimulus response demands of the instruments are discussed.…

The monosyllabic adaptive speech test (MAST) procedures were found to be reliable with children as young as 3. The accuracy of the MAST estimate of 50% speech threshold was confirmed in 60 hearing imparied and normal children 3-7 years old. With 10 hearing impaired children, MAST threshold was significantly correlated with pure-tone loss. (CL)

In order to study effectiveness of low-frequency amplification and filtered-speech testing for preschool deaf children, an experimental design permitting the teacher to speak simultaneously through two different amplifying systems, a low-frequency auditory training unit (Suvag I) and a conventional auditory training unit (Warren T-2), was used…

Average intelligibility scores for a group of 37 hearing-impaired and 2 normally hearing adolescents were determined by 50 normal listeners and were compared with nine acoustically measured speech variables, including measurements of consonant production, vowel production, and prosody. (Author/DLS)