Intelligibility: what’s the score?
Author: Jennifer Vigouroux & Nick Miller
Magazine issue: Autumn 06
Page numbers: 7-9
Date: 28 August 2006
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Charting changes in intelligibility is an intergral part of clinical work, particularly for clients who have dysarthria. A diagnostic intelligibility test involves listening to the client reading randomly selected (near) minimally differing sets of words. Scoring is either open format (listeners write what they think they heard) or closed format (listeners are given a list to choose from). Jennifer Vigouroux and Nick Miller question the assumption that both assessment formats are “equally reliable and applicable methods of evaluation”. Their study of 27 people with Parkinson’s disease of varying severity sought to compare the different scoring methods, different types of listeners, and structured versus more spontaneous speech. They conclude that methods of scoring and the type of listener must be consistent across time to measure change, and that closed format scoring is more appropriate for severely affected speakers with open format more sensitive for the mildly affected.
