Abstracts Category : Other

Development of Word Recognition Materials for Native Cebuano Speakers

by Sarah Mickele Gordon

Within recent decades speech audiometry materials have been developed in various languages in order to more accurately identify and evaluate hearing impairment in native speakers. This advantage, however, is not available to native Cebuano speakers. The purpose of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate a set of Cebuano bisyllabic word lists for use in measuring word recognition ability. This process began with recording 260 commonly used bisyllabic Cebuano words by a native speaker noted for his quality and pleasantness of speech in his native tongue. These recordings were then evaluated by 20 normally hearing native Cebuano listeners (21 to 63 years old). Of these words, 200 were selected and then divided into 4 lists of 50 bisyllabic words and 8 half-lists of 25 bisyllabic words. Statistical analysis of the word recognition materials found no significant difference among the lists or half-lists. The mean psychometric function slope at 50% for the bisyllabic word lists and half-lists is 7.3%/dB. The mean 50% threshold for the lists was 19.7 dB HL (SD = 0.1dB). Adjustments were not necessary. The results of the current study are comparable to those found in other languages. Digital recordings of the bisyllabic word lists are available on compact disc.