Development of the Mandarin pediatric speech intelligibility (MPSI) test

Abstract

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.

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

“…Spondee Perception for MESP Category 3. Mean scores for developmentally normal hearing subjects [10][11][12] are displayed as gray diamonds, and individual scores for CI subjects are displayed as black squares. Scores for normal subjects are plotted as a function of age, and scores for CI subjects are plotted as a function of time after implantation.…”

“…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].…”

“…The performance of developmentally normal hearing subjects on the MESP test as a function of chronological age has been reported by Zheng et al [10][11][12]. Briefly, these investigators obtained cross-sectional measures of performance for all six of the MESP categories in 92 children falling into three age groups, 2-3 years, 3-4 years, and 4-5 years.…”

“…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.…”

“…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). A Mandarin version of the LNT has not been developed because the many monosyllabic homonyms in Mandarin make it difficult to apply the underlying theoretical model used for the LNT.…”