Word recognition materials for native speakers of Taiwan Mandarin.
OBJECTIVE
To select, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate word recognition materials that can be used to measure the speech perception abilities of native speakers of Taiwan Mandarin in quiet.


METHODS
Frequently used bisyllabic words produced by male and female talkers of Taiwan Mandarin were digitally recorded and subsequently evaluated using 20 native listeners with normal hearing at 10 intensity levels (-5 to 40 dB HL) in increments of 5 dB.


RESULTS
Using logistic regression, 200 words with the steepest psychometric slopes were divided into 4 lists and 8 half-lists that were relatively equivalent in psychometric function slope. To increase auditory homogeneity of the lists, the intensity of words in each list was digitally adjusted so that the threshold of each list was equal to the midpoint between the mean thresholds of the male and female half-lists.


CONCLUSIONS
Digital recordings of the word recognition lists and the associated clinical instructions are available on CD upon request.
Nissen
Shawn L
SL
Department of Communication Disorders, 138 Taylor Building, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA. shawn_nissen@byu.edu
Harris
Richard W
RW
Dukes
Alycia
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013624:Taiwan; D014825:Vocabulary