Development and validation of the Mandarin speech perception test.

Currently there are few standardized speech testing materials for Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant (CI) listeners. In this study, Mandarin speech perception (MSP) sentence test materials were developed and validated in normal-hearing subjects listening to acoustic simulations of CI processing. Percent distribution of vowels, consonants, and tones within each MSP sentence list was similar to that observed across commonly used Chinese characters. There was no significant difference in sentence recognition across sentence lists. Given the phonetic balancing within lists and the validation with spectrally degraded speech, the present MSP test materials may be useful for assessing speech performance of Mandarin-speaking CI listeners.