Pediatric Speech Audiometry Flashcards
Is speech perception crucial for children?
Yes
It underpins language development, academic success, social interactions, cognitive skills, and emotional well-being
Allow children to learn words and grammar, excel in reading and writing, communicate effectively with peers, and express and understand emotions, which are all essential for their holistic development
Is speech perception testing the only part of the audiology test battery that functionally assesses auditory performance?
Yes
Is there a widely accepted method for evaluating word recognition ability with children?
No
Without speech perception testing, what is not possible to predict?
What the child hears
What the child does not hear
Whether there has been a change in auditory perception
Whether something can be done to improve auditory functioning
Why is speech perception testing essential?
Measures a child’s perception of phonetic segments, words, sentences, and connected discourse
Quantify the benefits of amplification and guide management decisions in audiologic evaluations
Monitors a child’s auditory progress and documenting improvements over time
Assists in planning and implementing audiologic rehabilitation, including speech reading and auditory training.
Identify abnormalities not predicted from PTA
What are some principles of developing a speech audiometry test?
Should match the cognitive, motor, and attentional capabilities of children
Must be interesting and motivating
Should not depend on vocabulary knowledge or advanced language skills
Should not necessitate phonological knowledge or speech production abilities
Should assess the ability to communicate effectively in everyday situations
Must accurately and sensitively measure children’s speech perception in realistic listening scenarios
What are some internal factors that could affect word recognition in children?
Vocabulary and language competency
Chronological age
Cognitive abilities
Alertness
Motivation
Fatigue
What are some external factors that could affect word recognition in children?
The designation of an appropriate response task
Effective utilization of reinforcement
Controlling the memory load inherent in the task that can influence test performance
What are some challenges of speech perception tests in children?
Language and vocabulary of the child
Cognitive, motoric, and attentional capabilities of the child
Articulation problems are common in children (may be more difficult to score these tests)
How should you select a speech test for children?
Degree of hearing loss should not be a factor
Tests should be selected based on the individual child’s language capabilities
Profound hearing loss makes it harder for children with hearing aids to receive information through hearing, though this may not apply with children with CI’s
What are the different ways to evaluate speech perception (4)?
Detection: ability to tell when a stimulus is present (just like tones but with speech)
Discrimination: ability to determine whether two stimuli are the same or different (cat vs hat)
Identification: Ability to recognize and label stimulus (name thing and they have to select it)
Comprehension: ability to understand what the stimulus means
What are the two different types of speech threshold tests in children?
Speech awareness thresholds
Speech reception thresholds
What is the speech awareness threshold test?
A test that uses speech stimuli to determine threshold—the lowest level at which a person can detect the presence of the stimulus 50% of the time.
Establishes a minimal response level for awareness for speech
Response can vary greatly from eye widening, head turn, or facial change
Stimuli can be the child’s name, nonsense words, or short phrases
Stimuli is presented typically via MLV and can be obtained in the SF (better ear response) or under headphone
When is SAT used?
Used in children who are too young, cognitively delayed, or those with limited vocabularies
Are the SAT thresholds always better than the PTA average?
Yes
What are the 6 ling sounds?
Ah
Oo
Eee
Shh
Ssss
Mmm
What ling sounds indicate the usable hearing through 1000 Hz (low frequencies)?
Ahh
Ooo
Eeee
Mmm
What ling sound indicates the usable hearing through 2000 Hz (mid-high frequencies)?
Shhh
What ling sound indicates usable hearing through 4000 Hz (high frequency)?
Ssss
Why would the ling sounds be used while testing a child?
To get frequency specific information
Tells us how a person can be expected to perceive speech stimuli across the frequency range needed for speech
Can be compared directly to pure tone thresholds
What is speech reception threshold testing?
Determines the lowest level at which a person can identify speech stimuli 50% of the time.
No visual cues are provided
Social reinforcement and exaggerated praise should be provided throughout the session
Do the materials for speech reception threshold testing on children depend on age?
Yes
Younger children: Direct them to point at pictures or body parts, pick toys, or follow simple verbal instructions
Older children: Ask them to repeat using standard tests; spondee words
When should you use body pointing or familiar object pointing for SRT?
Variable age
Depends on language
Use when other tests are too difficult
When should you use spondee picture pointing and repeating the word for SRT?
When the child has the language to identify objects