Cantonese Time-Compressed Speech Test: Normative values for young adults

Abstract

Cantonese is a Chinese dialect spoken by over 50 million speakers in China and around the world. However, few Cantonese assessment tools for (central) auditory processing disorders are available. One common auditory processing assessment tool presented to English language listeners is time-compressed speech. The present study aimed at creating a prototype time-compressed speech test in Cantonese and developing initial normative data for this population. Fifty young Cantonese-speaking adults participated in the study. Three lists of bisyllabic Cantonese words with 0%, 45%, and 65% time compression rates were presented. Over 95% correct word recognition scores at all three compression rates were found. Word recognition scores were very similar for 0% and 45% compression lists but a relatively large standard deviation and slight mean drop in performance was noted for the 65% compression list. There was no significant difference between left and right ears or between genders. These results were comparable to previous studies of time-compressed speech performance for normal hearing listeners in other languages. From the findings, it was concluded that 45% is an appropriate time compression rate· for evaluating the auditory closure abilities of Cantonese-speaking individuals and that a Cantonese time-compressed speech test may be useful in the clinical diagnosis of (central) auditory processing disorders in Cantonese speaking individuals.