The development of the MESP has produced a recorded objective test for the evaluation of early speech perception in Mandarin-speaking children using a standardized protocol. The hierarchical structure of the first three MESP categories parallels that of the ESP, while restricting the occurrence of some tones. Additional MESP categories allow control and variation of Mandarin segmental and tonal contrasts. The MESP is part of a Mandarin hierarchical test battery for assessment of speech perception in young children.

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The normal trajectory of early prelingual auditory development from birth to 24 months of age was characterized in a sample of 120 normal-hearing infants and toddlers of Mandarin-Chinese-speaking parents. The Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS) was administered to parents as a structured interview during routine pediatric health examinations. Developmental trajectories for the overall IT-MAIS score, as well as for scores on the subscales that assess behavioral evidence of spontaneous detection of and responsiveness to sound and of spontaneous recognition and discrimination of sound, were represented by logarithmic regression functions. On average, these regression functions characterized over 80% of the age-related variance in each scale. The developmental trajectories revealed that by 16 months the average infant exhibited spontaneous detection of and responsiveness to sound at all times, while spontaneous recognition and discrimination of sound was seen at all times after 26 months. The trajectory for the overall IT-MAIS scale, which combines the two subscales, reached ceiling at 22 months. The overall trajectory for Chinese infants closely matches the trajectory for normal-hearing infants of Arabic- and Hebrew-speaking parents in Israel. The Chinese IT-MAIS also exhibits similar internal consistency and item reliability to the German, Polish, and British English IT-MAIS scales. These similarities seen across culturally and linguistically diverse populations suggest the early prelingual auditory development follows the same, or a very similar course, in all infants.

ObjectivesThe Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) is a commonly used self-reporting tinnitus questionnaire. We undertook this study to determine the reliability and validity of the Chinese-Mandarin version of the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI-CM) for measuring tinnitus-related handicaps.MethodsWe tested the test-retest reliability, internal reliability, and construct validity of the THI-CM. Two-hundred patients seeking treatment for primary or secondary tinnitus in Southwest China were asked to complete THI-CM prior to clinical evaluation. Patients were evaluated by a clinician using standard methods, and 40 patients were asked to complete THI-CM a second time 14±3 days after the initial interview.ResultsThe test-retest reliability of THI-CM was high (Pearson correlation, 0.98), as was the internal reliability (Cronbach's α, 0.93). Factor analysis indicated that THI-CM has a unifactorial structure.ConclusionThe THI-CM version is reliable. The total score in THI-CM can be used to measure tinnitus-related handicaps in Mandarin-speaking populations.

The objective of this research was to create a Mandarin closed-set sentence recognition test based on the English pediatric speech intelligibility (PSI) test (Jerger & Jerger, 1984 ) for evaluation of speech perception in children as young as three years of age. Developmentally normal children (N = 93), 3-6 years of age, were administered the Mandarin PSI (MPSI) via a computer-controlled protocol. Perfect performance was observed for all children in quiet and at +10 and +5 dB signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Significant age and developmental trends were seen for the more difficult SNRs, 0 dB, -5 dB, and -10 dB, with 75% of 5-6 year olds reaching the most difficult SNR. Children who reached each of the more difficult SNRs, regardless of age, exhibited the same pattern of performance on all easier conditions, indicating that the final SNR achieved, rather than percent correct scores, may be a better descriptor of performance. The MPSI comprises part of a hierarchical assessment battery for pediatric speech perception for evaluation of intervention alternatives for Mandarin-speaking children with hearing impairment.

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The middle ear function and hearing levels of unrepaired cleft palate patients improved with age, but at least 30% of the patients' ears demonstrated a hearing loss and abnormal tympanometry in each age group, including those over 19 years of age. In the crucial language-learning stage, the frequency of hearing impairment and abnormal tympanometry was as high as 60%. Considering these results, palate repair and surgical intervention, such as tube insertion, for otological problems should be considered at an early age.

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