An on-line imitative test of speech-pattern contrast perception (OlimSpac): developmental effects in normally hearing children

Abstract

Purpose: The goal was to assess the effects of maturation and phonological development on performance, by normally hearing children, on an imitative test of auditory capacity (On-Line Imitative Test of Speech-Pattern Contrast Perception [OlimSpac]; Boothroyd, Eisenberg, & Martinez, 2006; Eisenberg, Martinez, & Boothroyd, 2003, 2007).

Method: Thirty-four hearing children (aged between 1;8 [years;months] and 6;7) were asked to imitate nonword utterances. Responses were evaluated by a blinded listener in an 8-alternative forced-choice task, giving information on the children's ability to convey, by imitation, information about 6 binary phonemic contrasts.

Results: Four children declined participation. Among 30 children aged 2;7 or older, performance improved significantly with age and varied with contrast. All children 3 years of age or older attained passing scores (7 or 8 correct responses in 8 binary trials) on at least 5 of the 6 contrasts. Post-alveolar consonant place was the contrast most often failed.

Conclusions: When evaluated on a pass/fail basis, normally hearing children 3 years of age or older are likely to demonstrate auditory perception of most phonemic contrasts using this imitative test. Phonological development and other task-related factors have only a modest effect on performance by normally hearing children after 3 years of age. The effects of hearing loss, hearing age, sensory assistance, and listening experience in children with hearing loss remain to be determined.

Figure 1

Equipment arrangement for administering the On-Line Imitative Test of Speech-Pattern Contrast Perception (OlimSpac).

Figure 2

Eight response alternatives presented to the tester/listener for the first trial of three contrasts: vowel place (VP), consonant continuance (CC), and post-alveolar consonant place (CPr). The scores shown at the bottom are for the previous three contrasts: vowel height (VH), consonant voicing (CV), and pre-alveolar consonant place (CPf).

Figure 3

Audio-only (AO) and audio-visual (AV) OlimSpac scores for 30 normally hearing children as functions of age. Data points show composite scores averaged across six contrasts and corrected for guessing. Lines are least-squares fits of exponential growth functions to the data. The ages are also shown for the four children for whom testing was unsuccessful.

Figure 4

Effects on the composite audio-only OlimSpac score of three demographic variables. In separate one-way analyses of variance with age as a covariate, there was no evidence of significant effects. HEI = House Ear Institute.

Figure 5

Mean audio-only performance as a function of age and contrast. The curves are least-squares fits of exponential growth functions to the data. re = regarding; Cons. = consonant.

Figure 6

Individual audio-only results for six contrasts as a function of age and contrast. Data points show the number of correct responses in eight trials. Scores of seven or eight are significantly better than chance at the .035 level and are indicated by open symbols. Overlapping data points have been shifted slightly to ensure visibility.

Figure 7

The number of contrasts on which each child’s imitation was scored correctly seven or eight times in eight trials. Every child 3 years of age or older passed on at least five of the six contrasts used in OlimSpac, regardless of presentation modality. Overlapping data points have been moved slightly to ensure visibility.