A New Dimension in the Assessment of Speech Sound Discrimination

Abstract

Discussed here is a newly developed test which allows the evaluation of speech sound discrimination ability while miminizing the influence of variables such as abstractness of materials or familiarity with the vocabulary and illustrations used. This new procedure represents more closely the type of speech sound discrimination tasks to which a child or adult is subjected daily, in both quiet and noisy environments. The Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock Test of Auditory Discrimination is a pictorial test designed to utilize both immediate and past experience in testing discrimination abilities. Suitable for a wide range of subjects, the test can be used to study normal development and to seek etiological and contributory factors in disabilities in speech, language, reading and learning.

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