Scoring Spanish word-recognition measures

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Psycholinguistics

Background:

• Accurate speech recognition testing is crucial for diagnosing hearing and language disorders.
• Standardized word recognition measures are essential for reliable clinical assessment.
• Evaluating the impact of language background on test interpretation is important for diverse populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if English-speaking audiologists, with or without knowledge of Spanish, can accurately score Spanish word recognition tests.
• To assess the clinical significance of differences in scoring accuracy between these two groups of judges.
• To evaluate the reliability of oral responses to Spanish word recognition measures when scored by English-speaking professionals.

Main Methods:

• 10 native Spanish speakers provided oral and written responses to four Auditec Spanish word lists.
• 15 native English-speaking judges with Spanish knowledge and 15 without scored the oral responses.
• Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare scores and evaluate scoring accuracy.

Main Results:

• Oral response scores were statistically equivalent when judged by English speakers with or without Spanish knowledge (p > 0.01).
• A statistically significant difference was found in scoring accuracy between the two judge groups (p < 0.01).
• The average difference between oral and written scores was minimal (2-3 percentage points), indicating little clinical significance.

Conclusions:

• English-speaking audiologists demonstrate competence in scoring Spanish word recognition tests.
• Knowledge of Spanish among English-speaking judges does not significantly alter clinical interpretation of these measures.
• The findings support the use of standardized Spanish word recognition tests by English-speaking audiologists for clinical practice.