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

VL - 80

SP - 53

EP - 60

JO - International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology Extra

JF - International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology Extra

SN - 1871-4048

ER -