Skip to main content
The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology
Download PDF

Development of an Arabic speech intelligibility test for children

The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology volume 29, pages 202–206 (2013)Cite this article

En

Abstract

Objectives

Speech intelligibility is usually expressed as a percentage of spoken words, sentences, or phonemes correctly identified by a listener or a group of listeners when spoken by a talker or a number of talkers. Communicative disorders could have a deleterious effect on speech intelligibility. To date, there are no Arabic tests measuring speech intelligibility.

Aim

It is necessary to develop and standardize an objective Arabic speech intelligibility test that can be used to estimate the degree of deterioration of speech intelligibility in communicative disorders as an attempt to develop a valid and a reliable tool to assess the efficacy of different therapy programs for different communicative disorders.

Patients and methods

This study was carried out on 200 children with an age range of 4–12 years whose language skills were either fully developed or equivalent for age. All children were selected randomly from the outpatient clinic of phoniatrics and had any of five selected speech disorders affecting speech intelligibility. Each child included in the study was subjected to two evaluations: a subjective rating of the child’s speech intelligibility and the developed Arabic speech intelligibility test, which is meant to be an objective measure.

Results

The results showed a highly significant correlation between the scores of the Arabic speech intelligibility test and the average scores given by raters, the average scores for words, and the average scores for sentences (0.92, 0.98, and 0.84, respectively).

Conclusion

The developed test is proven to be valid and reliable for measuring speech intelligibility in children and could be categorically classified according to ranges of severity.

References

  1. Kent RD. Speech intelligibility. In: Yoder DE, Kent RD, editors. Decision making in speech–language pathology. Philadelphia:Decker; 1988. pp. 140–143.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Monsen RB. The oral speech intelligibility of hearing-impaired talkers. J Speech Hear Disord. 1983;48:286–296.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Yorkston KM, Beukelman DR, Tice R. Phoneme intelligibility testing for windows. Lincoln, communication disorders software. 1999. Lincoln, NE:Tice Technology Services.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Stevens KN, Nickerson RS, Rollins AM. Suprasegmental and postural aspects of speech production and their effect on articulatory skills and intelligibility. In: Hochberg I, Levitt H, Osberger MJ, editors Speech of the hearing impaired: research, training and personnel preparation. Baltimore:University Park Press; 1983. pp. 35–51.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Bender BK, Cannito MP, Murry T, Woodson GE. Speech intelligibility in severe adductor spasmodic dysphonia. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2004;47:21–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Liu H, Wan M, Ng ML, Wang S, Lu C. Tonal perceptions in normal laryngeal, esophageal, and electrolaryngeal speech of Mandarin. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2006;58:340–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Justice L. Communication science and disorders: an introduction. 1st ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ:Pearson Education Inc.; 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  8. St. Louis KO, Myers FL, Faragasso K, Townsend PS, Gallaher AJ. Perceptual aspects of cluttered speech. J Fluency Disord. 2004;29:213–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Van Lierde KM, De Bodt M, Van Borsel J, Wuyts FL, Van Cauwenberge P. Effect of cleft type on overall speech intelligibility and resonance. Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2002;54:158–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Kent RD, Weismer G, Kent JF, Rosenbek JC. Toward phonetic intelligibility testing in dysarthria. J Speech Hear Disord. 1989;54:482–499.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Shuster LI, Wambaugh JL. Consistency of speech sound errors in apraxia of speech accompanied by aphasia. Poster Presented at the Clinical Aphasiology Conference, Orca’s Island, WA; 2003.

  12. Hardcastle WJ, Edwards S. EPG-based description of apraxic speech errors. In: Kent RD, editor. Intelligibility in speech disorders. Philadelphia:John Benjamin; 1992. pp. 287–328.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  13. Flipsen P Jr. Measuring the intelligibility of conversational speech in children. Clin Linguist Phonet. 2006;20:303–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Monsen R, Moog J, Jears AE. CID Picture SPINE. St Louis, MO:Central Institute for the Deaf; 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Anastasi A. Psychological testing. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ:Prentice Hall; 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Wodrich DL. Children’s psychological testing. 3rd ed. Baltimore, MD:Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. Inc.; 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Lillvik M, Allemark E, Karlström P, Hartelius L. Intelligibility of dysarthric speech in words and sentences: development of a computerised assessment procedure in Swedish. Logoped Phoniatr Vocol. 1999;24:107–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Beerends JG, Van Buuren R, Van Vugt J, Verhave J. Objective speech intelligibility measurement on the basis of natural speech in combination with perceptual modeling. J Audio Eng Soc. 2009;57:299–308.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Monsen RB. A usable test for the speech intelligibility of deaf talkers. Am Ann Deaf. 1981;126:845–852.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Schiavetti N. Scaling procedures for the measurement of speech intelligibility. In: Kent RD, editor. Intelligibility in speech disorders. Philadelphia:John Benjamin; 1992. pp. 11–34.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Phoniatrics, Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

    Samia E. Bassiouny, Mona A. Hegazi, Jilan F. Nassar MD, Aml S. Saber & Ahmed Abdel Hamid

  2. Department of Psychometry, Faculty of Arts, El Minya University, El Minya, Egypt

    Mohsen A. Ibrahim

Authors
  1. Samia E. Bassiouny
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mona A. Hegazi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jilan F. Nassar MD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mohsen A. Ibrahim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Aml S. Saber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Ahmed Abdel Hamid
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jilan F. Nassar MD.

Additional information

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Rights and permissions

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bassiouny, S.E., Hegazi, M.A., Nassar, J.F. et al. Development of an Arabic speech intelligibility test for children. Egypt J Otolaryngol 29, 202–206 (2013). https://doi.org/10.7123/01.EJO.0000429577.63818.de

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7123/01.EJO.0000429577.63818.de

Keywords