Speech Identification Test for Telugu speaking Children: Performance of children with Hearing impairment

The Speech Identification Test for Hearing impaired children in Telugu is developed as a closed – set test with administration time about 20 – 25 minutes. It consists of forty six bisyllabic and / or multisyllabic words as test items and four bisyllabic and / or multisyllabic words as familiarity items. The words are chosen carefully taking into consideration several factors such as the vocabulary of the children to be tested and the pictorial representation of the words. The test can be used to find out the speech identification abilities of hearing impaired children and accordingly assign them to different auditory training groups. If this test is administered in special schools at the beginning of the term and based on the results, auditory training programs can be devised and implemented, efficiency of the same could be assessed by repeating the test at frequent intervals and at the end of the term. Similarly Audiologists and / or Speech and Language therapists’ can use this test to assess the effectiveness of their training programs longitudinally by evaluating the scores.