The Parsing Syllable Envelopes (ParSE) test for assessment of amplitude modulation discrimination skills in children: Development, normative data and test-retest reliability studies

Abstract

Background: Intensity peaks and valleys in the acoustic signal are salient cues to syllable structure, which is accepted to be a crucial early step in phonological processing. As such, the ability to detect low-rate (envelope) modulations in signal amplitude is essential in order to parse an incoming speech signal into smaller phonological units. Purpose: The Parsing Syllable Envelopes test (ParSE) was developed to quantify the ability of children to recognize syllable boundaries using an amplitude modulation detection paradigm. The envelope of a 750 ms steady-state /a/ vowel is modulated into two or three pseudo-syllables using notches with modulation depths varying between 0-100% along an 11-step continuum. In an adaptive three-alternative forced-choice procedure the participant identified whether 1, 2 or 3 pseudo-syllables were heard.