P M Rhyner | PubMed Health

PubMed1993

Effects of word predictability, child development, and aging on time-gated speech recognition performance.

This study examined the interaction of acoustic-phonetic information with higher-level linguistic contextual information during the real-time speech perception process in child, young adult, and older adult listeners. Five age groups were studied: (a) young children ranging in age from 5 to 7 years, (b) older children aged 8 to 10 years, (c) young adults aged 18 to 23 years, (d) older adults aged 60 to 69 years, and (e) older adults aged 70 to 83 years. All subjects were presented with time-gated monosyllabic target words presented in sentence contexts containing contrasting levels of word predictability. Findings indicated that target word predictability influenced the timing and nature of the real-time recognition process including the listeners' use of initial word sounds. Predictability-high (PH) words were recognized earlier and with greater confidence than predictability-low (PL) words. PH recognition performance was more influenced by child development and aging than PL recognition performance. Older adult listeners required more PH-gated word stimuli to produce accurate responses than younger adults. Older children showed more effective use of PH contexts than younger children.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed1988

Concurrent validity of the Bracken Basic Concept Scale with language and intelligence measures.

The present study compared results obtained for 62 normally developing preschool children on the Bracken Basic Concept Scale, the Preschool Language Scale, and the Slossen Intelligence Test to determine whether scores on the tests correlated and were equivalent. Results of correlation analyses using standard scores from the Bracken Basic Concept Scale, the auditory comprehension and verbal ability subscales of the Preschool Language Scale, and the Slossen Intelligence Test revealed low to moderate correlations between the three tests. These results suggest that the tests do not measure the same abilities and thus cannot be used interchangeably to evaluate basic concept development, language, or intellectual functioning in preschool children. The moderate to high correlations found between the children's CAs and age-equivalents for the three tests indicate that the tests measure skills that are developmental in nature. Implications for assessment of concept development and language functioning in preschool children are discussed.

Age Factors↗