Development of the Children’s English and Spanish Speech Recognition Test: Sound Field Data From Children With and Without Hearing Loss

OBJECTIVES: Speech perception testing in the sound field plays an important role in assessing outcomes for children with hearing loss, particularly those who use sensory aids. The goals of the present report were to (1) establish normative data in the sound field for the Children's English and Spanish Speech Recognition test (ChEgSS) using English or Spanish targets presented in speech-shaped noise or two-talker speech, and (2) provide preliminary data on ChEgSS in the sound field for children with hearing loss to guide a large-scale evaluation of the ChEgSS test conducted at multiple pediatric audiology clinics across the U.S. DESIGN: Experiment 1 administered ChEgSS in the sound field to children (4 to 17 years) with normal hearing, including English monolinguals and Spanish-English bilinguals. Experiment 2 administered ChEgSS in the sound field to children with bilateral hearing loss, tested with and without their hearing aids. RESULTS: As observed previously for ChEgSS presented over headphones, performance in the sound field improved with age, with larger age effects in the speech masker than in the noise masker. Results for most bilingual children were similar whether listening in English or Spanish. For children with hearing loss, aided ChEgSS scores tended to be similar to or better than those obtained unaided, supporting the idea that sound field presentation of ChEgSS can characterize the benefit associated with appropriate amplification. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate the feasibility of using ChEgSS to assess speech recognition in the sound field for English monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children.