A Study on the Effectiveness of Mandarin Seven-Sound Test Across Multiple Speakers

Mandarin seven-sound test was introduced to bridge a frequency gap from 6000 Hz to 8000 Hz identified in the standard Mandarin version of the Ling six-sound test. However, until the present research, there are few relevant studies to confirm the feasibility of this test or to investigate its potential for use across various pronunciation communities. In this study, eight speakers were invited to record the audio material for Mandarin seven-sound test. Subsequently, 31 adult participants took the Mandarin seven-sound test using these recordings. The results showed that individuals with hearing loss performed significantly poorer than those with normal hearing in terms of both reaction time and accuracy rate. Specifically, within the hearing-loss group, the accuracy rates for the /s/ and sounds were notably lower compared to other phonemes. Additionally, this study found that the demographic characteristics of the speakers, such as gender and age, did not significantly influence the accuracy rate for either group. These results indicate that Mandarin seven-sound test not only effectively addresses the frequency gap of the Ling six-sound test but also maintains a high level of consistency across different speakers. Moreover, the online testing system has proven to be strong user-friendliness and provides significant value for clinical speech audiometry, speech therapy, and the development of hearing aid technology.