Effects of stimulus intensity on speech perception by deaf children

Ten monosyllabic, 10 trochaic, and 10 spondaic words were presented monaurally to 10 severely (70-95 dB HTL) and 10 profoundly (larger than 95 dB HTL) hearing-impaired children at sensation levels (SL) ranging from near detection to near discomfort. Two methods were used to evaluate word perception as a function of stimulus intensity: the percentage of words recognized correctly and the percentage of words categorized correctly as to stress pattern. Both word-recognition and categorization scores reached maxima at 24-36 dB SL for the severe group, supporting previous result. For the profoundly deaf group, word-recognition scores were low regardless of SL, but their perception of the stress patterns of words improved as a function of increasing intensity, reaching maxima at 12-30 dB SL. The procedure and results described in this paper may be used by audiologists to help select optimal hearing aid volume settings for young hearing-impaired children.