[Development and equivalence evaluation of spondee lists of mandarin speech test materials].
OBJECTIVE
To edit the spondee (disyllable) word lists as a part of mandarin speech test materials (MSTM). These will be basic speech materials for routine tests in clinics and laboratories.


METHODS
Two groups of professionals (audiologists, Chinese and Mandarin scientists, linguistician and statistician) were set up at first. The editing principles were established after 3 round table meetings. Ten spondee lists, each with 50 words, were edited and recorded into cassettes. All lists were phonemically balanced (3-dimensions: vowels, consonants and Chinese tones). Seventy-three normal hearing college students were tested. The speech was presented by earphone monaurally. Three statistic methods were used for equivalent analysis.


RESULTS
Related analysis showed that all lists were much related, except List 5. Cluster analysis showed that all ten lists could be classified as two groups. But Kappa test showed that the lists' homogeneity were not well.


CONCLUSIONS
Spondee lists are one of the most routine speech test materials. Their editing, recording and equivalent evaluation are affected by many factors. This also needs multi-discipline cooperation. All lists edited in present study need future modification in recording and testing in order to be used clinically and in research. The phonemic balance should be kept.
Zhang
Hua
H
Clinical Audiology Center, Beijing Institute of Otorhinolaryngology, Affiliated Beijing Tongren Hospital of Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, China. a-zhang@263.net
Wang
Shuo
S
Wang
Liang
L
Chen
Jing
J
Chen
Ai-ting
AT
Guo
Lian-sheng
LS
Zhao
Xiao-yan
XY
Ji
Chen
C
D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D055815:Young Adult