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The development of the Arabic lexical neighbourhood test

Alsari, NAM; (2015) The development of the Arabic lexical neighbourhood test. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London). Green open access

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Abstract

Speech perception is a primary outcome measure in children using cochlear implants (CI). Saudi Arabia has a high prevalence of hearing loss, however, there are no appropriate measures to assess communication skills in these children post cochlear implantation. This thesis describes the development and application of an Arabic version of the Lexical Neighbourhood Test (Kirk, Pisoni, & Osberger, 1995) for children using CIs in Saudi Arabia. Study 1 consisted of language sampling and developing the Arabic Lexical Neighbourhood Test (ALNT) word lists. Study 2 examined performance of normal hearing (NH) children on the ALNT in two conditions: in noise and in quiet via vocoded speech simulating a CI. Study 3 investigated the performance of CI children on the ALNT in quiet over time, with 3 measurements made over a period of approximately 18 months. In general, results indicated that the ALNT was a reliable speech perception test. Both CI and NH children consistently scored higher on the easy words than the hard words which is consistent with the effects of the lexical factors of word frequency and neighbourhood density on speech perception. Another factor that was also explored was whether repeated administration of test items affected performance. In NH children, when time intervals between first and second administration was 2-4 weeks, repetition effects were evident. In CI children however, when the test intervals between repeated administrations was 6-9 months apart, repetition effects were not evident. This demonstrates that the ALNT can be used repeatedly without affecting speech perception performance. Finally, the sensitivity of the ALNT to change in performance over time was compared to a nonsense CV test that was also administered to CI children over three sessions. The CV test was found to be more sensitive to change over time than the ALNT.

Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Title: The development of the Arabic lexical neighbourhood test
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Language: English
Keywords: Lexical Neighbourhood test, Arabic, cochlear implants, speech perception
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1469481
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