Measuring the understanding of sentences by hearing-impaired children: comparison with connected discourse ratings

Measuring the understanding of connected speech by hearing-impaired children is desirable if an appropriate rehabilitative or special educational program is to be implemented or monitored. This study was undertaken to explore the potential of a Cantonese version of the Helen sentence test as a measure of understanding connected speech by a group of 54 mildly to profoundly hearing-impaired children, and to compare the results from this sentence test with those achieved by the same children on a connected discourse test. The effects of two different hearing aid frequency responses and two noise conditions on the results from both tests were also examined. Findings from the present study revealed that the Helen sentence test could be successfully adapted for use with Cantonese-speaking hearing-impaired children in Hong Kong. When compared to the connected discourse test, the modified Helen test produced significantly higher scores and was more sensitive to changes in noise level, especially for the severely and profoundly hearing-impaired children.