Syllabic stress (trochaic vs. spondaic) and speech thresholds in normal and hearing-impaired children

Speech thresholds for 6 common two-syllable words on tape with either trochaic (natural) or spondaic stress were collected from children aged 3.5-6.5 yrs, audiometrically grouped as normal-hearing (N:8), conductive (N:8) or sensorineural (N:6). Ss were further grouped as younger and older. No significant differences in mean threshold, nor in time to reach threshold, were observed for either pattern of stress or age, suggesting that audiologists may interchange spondaic with trochaic stress when measuring speech thresholds in young children, with no effect on the mean value or the efficiency of the threshold (mn of .5, 1, and 2 kc/s) or on its correlation with the pure-tone HTL.