Development of the monosyllable word lists for speech audiometry - conceptional analysis and theory development

摘要

The expression "phonetically balanced lists" or "PB-word lists" are often used related to the material intended for speech audiometry testing. This thesis looks into how these expressions can be related to the word material used in speech audiometry for speech recognition testing. The study concludes that phonemic balance, if any, is the preferred concept when describing the existing word lists. Further more the study shows that attempts to approximate a phonemic balance in word material intended for speech recognition testing has little relevance. Finally the study also indicates that word difficulty, word frequency and commonness has an impact on the recognition scores. These factors may be more relevant to consider in the development of a new material, but further research is needed before any conclusions can be drawn in relations to the material used for speech audiometry testing.