International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology (ICRA) recommendations for the construction of multilingual speech tests. ICRA Working Group on Multilingual Speech Tests.
OBJECTIVE
To provide guidelines for the development of two types of closed-set speech-perception tests that can be applied and interpreted in the same way across languages. The guidelines cover the digit triplet and the matrix sentence tests that are most commonly used to test speech recognition in noise. They were developed by a working group on Multilingual Speech Tests of the International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology (ICRA).


METHODS
The recommendations are based on reviews of existing evaluations of the digit triplet and matrix tests as well as on the research experience of members of the ICRA Working Group. They represent the results of a consensus process.


RESULTS
The resulting recommendations deal with: Test design and word selection; Talker characteristics; Audio recording and stimulus preparation; Masking noise; Test administration; and Test validation.


CONCLUSIONS
By following these guidelines for the development of any new test of this kind, clinicians and researchers working in any language will be able to perform tests whose results can be compared and combined in cross-language studies.
a MRC Institute of Hearing Research , Nottingham , UK.
Michael A
MA
Akeroyd
b Link ping University , Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Technical Audiology , Sweden.
Stig
S
Arlinger
c Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders , The University of Iowa, Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center , Iowa , USA.
Ruth A
RA
Bentler
d San Diego State University , San Diego , CA , USA.
Arthur
A
Boothroyd
e University of Zurich, ENT Department , Zürich , Switzerland.
Norbert
N
Dillier
f Academic Medical Centre , Amsterdam , The Netherlands.
Wouter A
WA
Dreschler
g Université de Montréal. Montréal , Québec , Canada.
Jean-Pierre
JP
Gagné
h Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton , Highfield, Southampton , UK.
Mark
M
Lutman
i KU Leuven, Dept. Neurosciences , ExpORL, Leuven , Belgium.
Jan
J
Wouters
j Division of Speech & Hearing Sciences, University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong.
Lena
L
Wong
k Cluster of Excellence Hearing4All & Medizinische Physik, Universität Oldenburg, and HörTech gGmbH , Oldenburg , Germany.
Birger
B
Kollmeier
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D032882:Comprehension; D032921:Consensus; D006801:Humans; D019303:Multilingualism; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects; D015588:Observer Variation; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D013069:Speech Reception Threshold Test / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards
Speech perception; behavioral measures; instrumentation; psychoacoustics/hearing science