title: The filtered words test and the influence of lexicality.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In the present study, the authors aimed to investigate the language confounds of filtered words tests by examining the repetition of real words versus nonsense words as a function of level of filtering.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-five young, native-English-speaking women with normal hearing were required to repeat 80 real-word and 80 nonsense-word monosyllables that were matched for phonemic content and low-pass filtered. Thirty participants were tested using a harsher filter range of 2000 to 500 Hz, and 25 participants were tested using a milder filter range of 3000 to 1500 Hz.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Paired-sample t tests compared accuracy (percentage of phonemes correct) for word and nonsense-word stimuli at each filter level. At filter levels between 3000 and 1750 Hz, performance for word stimuli was significantly better than for nonsense-word stimuli. Conversely, at filter levels between 500 and 1250 Hz, performance was significantly better for nonsense words.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The linguistic content of real-word stimuli benefits performance on low-pass filtered speech tests at filter levels above 1500 Hz. Caution must be taken when using real-word stimuli in low-pass filtered speech tests as part of an auditory processing diagnostic test battery, because language ability will impact on performance.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Arnott
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goli
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology; D010700:Phonetics; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult