Published Paper Details:

Speech has always been considered as a power medium for verbal communication, and reflects the personality of the speaker. The ability to speak is interlinked with the ability to hear. For children, hearing is most significant because the ability to develop and use oral language is closely related to the ability to process speech through ears. The purpose of this study was to develop and determine the validity of Picture Speech identification test for 3 to 6 years old children in Assamese language and compare the developed test on Assamese speaking children with profound hearing loss and Cochlear Implant users. A monosyllabic word list was developed keeping in mind that the words had to be pictorial. It was further validated and administered by performing on Assamese speaking bilateral severe to profound hearing impaired children and children using Cochlear implant and the scores were compared. The study revealed that Picture speech identification test developed for children showed a validity and children using Cochlear implants performed better compared to children without amplification i.e. bilateral severe to profound hearing loss. This study therefore proves that Picture speech identification test can be used as a valid tool for evaluation and therapy in the field of Pediatric Audiology. The test helps us find out the speech identification abilities of hearing impaired children and accordingly assign them to different auditory training groups.