Adults' item and order errors on sequences of time-compressed rhyming words

This investigation provided normative data for the intelligibility of time-compressed (TC) phonemes in 40 normal-hearing adults aged 18-26 yrs. Individual Ss were presented with 5-word rhyming sequences from the Fairbanks Rhyme Test (e.g., cat-bat-hat-mat-rat) sent to a monaural earphone at 40 db re SRT, and required to write the initial phonemes in the order as heard. Sequences were either at normal speed or at 60% TC, either unmasked or under contralateral multitalker masking at 65 db re SRT, counterbalanced for ear (R,L) and presentation order (R-L, L-R). Significant effects for both TC and masking were obtained with separate analyses of item and order errors. The findings support the diagnostic potential of these stimuli in detecting and documenting subtle auditory perceptual problems in adults, since they were consistent with findings for other stimuli known to be diagnostically effective and have the further property of tapping memory and sequencing abilities. Significant interactions with the factor of ear (R vs L) suggest that the stimuli may be especially sensitive to ear differences. Similar studies with groups such as those with high-level aphasia, sickle cell anemia, repeated strokes, etc., should be forthcoming to determine the clinical utility of these materials and procedures.