TY - JOUR
T1 - The Galker test of speech reception in noise; associations with background variables, middle ear status, hearing, and language in Danish preschool children
AU - Lauritsen, Maj-Britt Glenn
AU - Söderström, Margareta
AU - Kreiner, Svend
AU - Dørup, Jens
AU - Lous, Jørgen
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Purpose: We tested "the Galker test", a speech reception in noise test developed for primary care for Danish preschool children, to explore if the children's ability to hear and understand speech was associated with gender, age, middle ear status, and the level of background noise. Methods: The Galker test is a 35-item audio-visual, computerized word discrimination test in background noise. Included were 370 normally developed children attending day care center. The children were examined with the Galker test, tympanometry, audiometry, and the Reynell test of verbal comprehension. Parents and daycare teachers completed questionnaires on the children's ability to hear and understand speech. As most of the variables were not assessed using interval scales, non-parametric statistics (Goodman-Kruskal's gamma) were used for analyzing associations with the Galker test score. For comparisons, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. Interrelations were adjusted for using a non-parametric graphic model. Results: In unadjusted analyses, the Galker test was associated with gender, age group, language development (Reynell revised scale), audiometry, and tympanometry. The Galker score was also associated with the parents' and day care teachers' reports on the children's vocabulary, sentence construction, and pronunciation. Type B tympanograms were associated with a mean hearing 5-6 dB below that of than type A, C1, or C2. In the graphic analysis, Galker scores were closely and significantly related to Reynell test scores (Gamma (G) = 0.35), the children's age group (G = 0.33), and the day care teachers' assessment of the children's vocabulary (G = 0.26). Conclusions: The Galker test of speech reception in noise appears promising as an easy and quick tool for evaluating preschool children's understanding of spoken words in noise, and it correlated well with the day care teachers' reports and less with the parents' reports.
AB - Purpose: We tested "the Galker test", a speech reception in noise test developed for primary care for Danish preschool children, to explore if the children's ability to hear and understand speech was associated with gender, age, middle ear status, and the level of background noise. Methods: The Galker test is a 35-item audio-visual, computerized word discrimination test in background noise. Included were 370 normally developed children attending day care center. The children were examined with the Galker test, tympanometry, audiometry, and the Reynell test of verbal comprehension. Parents and daycare teachers completed questionnaires on the children's ability to hear and understand speech. As most of the variables were not assessed using interval scales, non-parametric statistics (Goodman-Kruskal's gamma) were used for analyzing associations with the Galker test score. For comparisons, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. Interrelations were adjusted for using a non-parametric graphic model. Results: In unadjusted analyses, the Galker test was associated with gender, age group, language development (Reynell revised scale), audiometry, and tympanometry. The Galker score was also associated with the parents' and day care teachers' reports on the children's vocabulary, sentence construction, and pronunciation. Type B tympanograms were associated with a mean hearing 5-6 dB below that of than type A, C1, or C2. In the graphic analysis, Galker scores were closely and significantly related to Reynell test scores (Gamma (G) = 0.35), the children's age group (G = 0.33), and the day care teachers' assessment of the children's vocabulary (G = 0.26). Conclusions: The Galker test of speech reception in noise appears promising as an easy and quick tool for evaluating preschool children's understanding of spoken words in noise, and it correlated well with the day care teachers' reports and less with the parents' reports.
KW - Day care children
KW - Hearing
KW - Language development
KW - Non-parametric statistics
KW - Otitis media
KW - Speech recognition in noise test
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijporl.2015.11.014
DO - 10.1016/j.ijporl.2015.11.014
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 26746613
AN - SCOPUS:84962004071
SN - 1871-4048
VL - 80
SP - 53
EP - 60
JO - International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology Extra
JF - International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology Extra
ER -