Development of the Mandarin Early Speech Perception Test: Children with Normal Hearing and the Effects of Dialect Exposure

Abstract

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.

Assessment of Mandarin-speaking pediatric cochlear implant recipients with the Mandarin Early Speech Perception (MESP) test

“…As part of these analyses, results for the CI children in the current study were compared with those of normally hearing children, as reported by Zheng et al [10][11][12]. Finally, the results from the current study were compared with the results for English-speaking children from the study by Eisenberg et al [1].…”

“…Subjects were then tested with the standard MESP test. The MESP software, picture plates and other test materials are described in Zheng et al [10][11][12]. The test items were administered at 65 dB(A) using a laptop computer and powered loudspeaker.…”

“…Briefly, the Mandarin IT-MAIS [10] parallels the English version and shows that early prelingual auditory development, as measured with the IT-MAIS, is similar for children of English-and Mandarin-speaking families. The Mandarin ESP (MESP) test [11] also parallels the English version, but includes two additional subtests, as described below. The Mandarin PSI test [12] is similar to the English PSI test, as is the Mandarin pediatric HINT (Wong, Reference Note 1).…”

“…Zheng et al [11] have used the standard MESP test to evaluate early speech perception in developmentally normal 2-5 year old Mandarin-speaking children. Their results provide an age-appropriate normative reference, which serves two primary purposes.…”

“…The standard version is an objective, normreferenced, software-administered speech perception test that uses recorded speech materials. The talker for the recordings is a native speaker of Putonghua, the official dialect of Mandarin [11]. The subject responds by pointing to pictures after hearing each recorded word, as presented via computer.…”