Background: The present study aimed to develop and standardise the sentence identification test in the Kannada language. This study used a normative research design that included development and standardisation of sentence tests. Material and methods:A total of 700 sentences in the Kannada language, selected from various sources, were evaluated for naturalness, predictability, and equivalency by 33 participants. Sentences considered to be natural, low in predictability, and equivalent were used to construct 30 lists of 10 sentences each. Standardisation of the material and list equivalency were assessed on 100 listeners with normal hearing ability.Results: Based on ratings of naturalness and predictability, 564 sentences were considered as highly natural and of low predictability. Of these, 316 were found to have equal difficulty based on a performance-SNR function and were used to construct 30 lists. Repeated measures ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc tests revealed Lists 1, 3, 15, 16, and 30 to be significantly different from at least one of the other lists. After removing these lists, the mean identification score for the final 25 lists at -5 dB SNR was 54%. Conclusions:The sentence identification test in Kannada for adults consists of 25 homogenous lists. The normative for the same is also given in the study. Its application is being assessed for hearing evaluation in the clinical population.

Background: Standard word lists are required to assess an individual's level of speech understanding. The material should comprise a number of lists and has to be in the listener's native language. The aim of the present study was to develop and standardize a set of phonemically balanced word lists for adults in the Kannada language.Material and methods: Exactly 1200 bisyllabic Kannada words were collected from various sources and evaluated for familiarity. The words that were familiar (820 of them) were assessed for equivalency at -3 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to make sure that the words in the lists were of equal difficulty. Equivalency across the word lists were assessed, in quiet at four sensation levels, on 65 participants with normal hearing. Equivalency was also assessed on 100 participants with normal hearing in noise at -3 dB SNR. Results:The assessment of word equivalency revealed that 769 words had a score of around 50% identification at -3 dB SNR. These words were then used to construct 25 test lists each containing 25 words. Except for List 5, all other word lists were equivalent in quiet. The performance intensity function for phonemically balanced words in quiet was derived at 4 SLs for all the other 24 lists. Assessment of list equivalency in noise revealed that Lists 1, 4, 5, and 12 were significantly different from the other lists. After removing these four lists, the mean word recognition score was 46.04% (raw score) at -3 dB SNR in 100 individuals with normal hearing sensitivity. Conclusions:The standardized 24 word lists in quiet and 21 word lists in noise can be used for adults in routine speech identification testing, assessment of hearing aid benefits, and for research that requires multiple word lists.

Objective: The present study aimed at standardizing the phonemically balanced word lists in the Kannada language for adults developed by Manjula et al. (2015). Materials and Methods:Forty individuals with different degrees of sensorineural hearing loss were enrolled for the study. The word lists developed by Manjula et al. (2015) were presented monaurally under headphones at 40 dB SL (ref: PTA) in quiet. The number of correctly identified words was calculated for each list. The scores of all the lists in each group were statistically analyzed. Results:The results revealed that there is list equivalency within each group on repeated measures ANOVA. The statistical analysis also revealed that the speech identification scores reduced significantly with an increase in the severity of hearing loss on MANOVA. Conclusion:The lists developed by Manjula et al. (2015) are sensitive to different degrees of hearing loss. Hence, the lists can be a good speech identification tool for testing adults with hearing loss in routine speech identification testing, assessing hearing aid benefits, and for research purposes where multiple word lists are required.