An Application of Item Response Theory and the Rasch Model in Speech Recognition Test Materials

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to describe an attempt to apply item-response theory (IRT) and the Rasch model to construction of speech-recognition tests. A set of word-recognition test items applicable to children as young as 3 years old—with any level of hearing sensitivity, with or without using hearing devices—was developed.

Method

Test items were constructed through expert consultation and by reference to some established language corpora, validated with 121 participants with various degrees of hearing loss and 255 with typical hearing. IRT and the Rasch model were applied to evaluate item quality.

Results

Eighty disyllabic word items were selected in accordance with IRT. The speech-recognition abilities of the 376 young participants are reported. The IRT analyses on this set of data are also discussed.

Conclusions

A new set of speech-recognition test materials in Cantonese Chinese has been developed. Construction of short equivalent lists may be performed in accordance with IRT item qualities. Clinical applications of this test tool in the particular language population are discussed.

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