Identification of consonant-nucleus-consonant words produced by a female child

The CNC word identification test is part of the speech test battery used to evaluate speech perception by persons fitted with cochlear implants [Luxford et al, Otolaryngology‐Head and Neck Surgery, 126–127 (2001)]. This test uses ten lists of 50 relatively common, phonetically balanced English words per list [Peterson and Lehiste, J. Speech. Hear. Disorders, 27:62–70 (1962)]. The version of this test, currently standardized and used across the U.S., contains the words spoken by one male speaker. Research has shown, however, that persons with cochlear implants have more difficulty perceiving speech produced by women and children than speech produced by men [Loizou et al,. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 103: 1141–1149 (1998)]. The ten CNC word lists were recorded as produced by an eleven‐year old girl. Each word was isolated and the word ready spoken by the same girl was added at the beginning of each stimulus sound file. Ten adults with normal hearing identified these words with 98% accuracy. Identification results will be obtained from persons fitted with cochlear implants and compared to the results of the same persons when listening to the original, male voice, CNC word lists. [Work supported by a UW‐Madison Hilldale Research Scholarship.]