Relationships between speech intelligibility and word articulation scores in children with hearing loss.
OBJECTIVE
This investigation sought to determine whether scores from a commonly used word-based articulation test are closely associated with speech intelligibility in children with hearing loss. If the scores are closely related, articulation testing results might be used to estimate intelligibility. If not, the importance of direct assessment of intelligibility is reinforced.


METHODS
Forty-four children with hearing losses produced words from the Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation-Second Edition (Goldman & Fristoe, 2000) and sets of 10 short sentences. Correlation analyses were conducted between scores for 7 word-based predictor variables and percent-intelligible scores derived from listener judgments of stimulus sentences.


RESULTS
Six of 7 predictor variables were significantly correlated with percent-intelligible scores. However, regression analysis revealed that no single predictor variable or multivariable model accounted for more than 25% of the variability in intelligibility scores.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings confirm the importance of assessing connected speech intelligibility directly.
Ertmer
David J
DJ
Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, 500 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2038, USA. dertmer@purdue.eud
D000293:Adolescent; D001184:Articulation Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013062:Speech Articulation Tests; D013065:Speech Intelligibility / Q000145:classification*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*