Development of Mandarin consonant discrimination test in quiet and in noise

Abstract

Consonant perception test is useful for evaluating the efficacy of hearing aids and cochlear implants, for guiding device adjustments and auditory rehabilitation (Fu et al., 2011), but there is a lack of standardized Mandarin consonant perception test. This study aims to develop a Mandarin Consonant Discrimination Test (MDCT) in quiet and in noise, and study the relationship among age, signal-to-noise level, and consonant discrimination performance in normal-hearing children aged 4 and 5. Results showed a significant difference in performance between children aged 4 and 5, and thus maturation effect of consonant discrimination ability was shown. This study also found observable patterns of difficult consonants for discrimination in pre-school children. Although further research is necessary for validating the test and for developing a larger norm for other age groups, the present test material is a potentially useful and appropriate material for research on consonant perception ability of Mandarin-speaking children in the future.