ChEgSS is a computer-based test of masked word recognition that was developed to assess children between the ages of 4 to 17 years of age. The test can be administered by audiologists in English or in Spanish, and the background is either speech-shaped noise or two-talker speech. Target speech is a corpus of 30 two-syllable words that are familiar to young children and easily recognized based on simple illustrations. In each trial of the test, the child hears a word and sees four pictures. The task is to select the target from among the alternatives. This test can be administered either adaptively or using a fixed signal-to-noise ratio.
One important feature of ChEgSS is its reliance on pre-recorded materials and direct responses. Test instructions and picture familiarization are built into the protocol, so the tester does not have to be fluent in the test language in order to obtain valid results. Asking the child to select the picture depicting the target eliminates scoring errors. These errors may be associated with limited language familiarity on the part of the tester or speech production problems on the part of the child.
ChEgSs is currently under under development through a multi-center grant funded by NIH NIDCD (R01DC015056). Initial development of the test is nearing completion. The goal of this project is to make the ChEgSS test widely available to both clinicians and researchers, as well as to provide normative data, and outcomes data on children with varying degrees of hearing loss. Although a primary motivation for this project was to improve speech perception testing protocols for Spanish/English bilingual children, it is also appropriate for monolingual English speaking children.