Effects of Tester-l Istener Variables O N the Scoring Accuracy of Single Syllable Word Speech Discriminat Ion Tests

by Carol Lowrey Hippert San Diego State Universit y Robert E. Novak Associate Professor San Diego State Universit y ABSTRACT The effects of monitorin g mode, presentation or der of the monitoring m odes, testing experience and lip reading ability of the tes ter, and sex of the speake r on the accuracy of scoring C ID W-22 word discrimina tion tests were assessed. S ignificantly greater accuracy of scoring was found whe n testers watched the spe akers mouth movements while listening to their respon ses under earphones. Or der of presentation of the four different monitoring m odes made a difference in the magnitudes of accuracy scores between similar c onditions but not in the overall trend of the data. Clinica l implications of these fin dings are discussed. Speech audiometry is an integral part of audiologi c evaluation. It provides valuable information concern ing differential diagnosis of hearing impairment as well as insight into pragmatic communication abilities. Inconsistencies in the adm inistration and recording of speech test materials ex ist across clinical audiolo gical facilities. It was the purp ose of this investigation t o evaluate the effects tha t the mode of client response monitoring, experience o f the tester, lipreading ab ility of the tester and sex of the client have on the sco ring accuracy of single sy llable word discrimination tests. This investigation was lim ited to the scoring of Eng lish speakers with general Am erican dialects. Although single syllable word speech discriminat ion tests are routinely c ompleted in the majority o f audiological clinics, litt le has been written abou t the effects of variables in tes ter-listener interaction on the scoring accuracy of t hese tests. Merril and Atkins on (1965), Lovemie, B urgi, and Curry (I968), and Nelson and Chaiklin (19 70) studied differences is the scoring of single syl lable word speech discriminati on tests when their subje cts scored tests using the auditory mode only to mon itor client responses. Th e subject's scoring was t hen compared with the actual client responses and sign ificant differences were n oted. Nelson and Chaiklin (197 0), MerrU and Atkinson ( 1965) and Siegal (1962) f ound conflicting results conc erning abilities of expe rienced versus inexperie nced testers, and Palm er (195 5) found no differences in the scoring of male v ersus