Development and content validation of coordinate response measure (CRM) corpus in Kannada for informational masking measurement

Abstract

Abstract Background Assessing informational masking (IM) involves various methods, broadly categorized as electrophysiological and behavioral approaches. In behavioral methods, researchers often use a range of stimulus types such as tone-in-noise masking, speech masking, music masking, gap detection, modulation masking, and spatial masking. The evaluation of speech perception in noisy conditions often utilizes the coordinate response measure (CRM), a publicly available test developed by Moore (AGARD conference proceedings 311, 1981). The objective of the study is to develop and content validate the Kannada coordinate response measure (CRM) sentences corpus for the information masking measurement. Results Stage 1: A total of thirty-eight call signs, eight colors, and eight numbers in the Kannada language were compiled and were given to 15 experts to select the appropriate stimuli. Those stimuli that satisfied the criteria of CVI ≥ 0.90 and CVR ≥ .90 were selected, which consisted of eight call signs, seven numbers, and five colors. Stage 2: By incorporating the chosen call signs, numbers, and colors, seven sentence structures were formulated and were subjected to content validation (criteria of CVI ≥ 0.90 and CVR ≥ .90). The sentence structure “(Call sign) iga (Color) bannada (Number) torsu” was finalized. Stage 3: Eight speakers (four males and four females) recorded Kannada sentences of about 3.5 s each, which were evaluated by five audiologists for voice quality, rate, and speech clarity using a 4-point scale. The evaluation identified two male and two female speakers with the best recordings. Stage 4: The final stage involved recording 235 sentences by the selected speakers, which were then assessed by two Kannada-speaking audiologists for face validity on various parameters, ensuring linguistic appropriateness and cultural relevance for inclusion in the final CRM corpus. Conclusion The resulting corpus, meticulously curated and content-validated, presents significant potential for advancing research and clinical assessment of informational masking within the Kannada-speaking community. Overall, the CRM’s exceptional performance in challenging listening environments, inherent adaptability across languages, versatility for different age and literacy levels, and effectiveness in speech-intelligibility testing with multiple simultaneous talkers due to its use of call signs underscores its value as a superior measurement tool, which can be used in IM measurement in Kannada-speaking population.

Keywords

• Informational masking
• Coordinate response measure (CRM) corpus
• Kannada language