Nilsson Sandra, Östlund Elisabet, Thalén Yvonne, Löfkvist Ulrika
Children and Education Administration, Falu Municipality, Falun, Sweden.
Medical Unit Ear, Nose, Throat, Hearing and Balance, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2025 Apr 8;68(4):1902-1916. doi: 10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00275. Epub 2025 Mar 18.
The Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) is a technological tool designed for comprehensive recordings and automated analysis of young children's daily language and auditory environments. LENA recordings play a crucial role in both clinical interventions and research, offering insights into the amount of spoken language children are exposed to in their homes, including adult word count (AWC) and child vocalization count (CVC). Although LENA was initially developed for American English, it has been validated in various other languages. This study aimed to evaluate the reliability of LENA in a Swedish context by comparing its automatic estimates with human transcriptions.
Thirty-six children aged 11-29 months participated in the validation study. A total of 540 min (9 hr) of recordings were transcribed by one experienced speech-language pathologist and two special educators. Interrater agreement over 150 min was notably higher for CVC (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = .97, 95% confidence interval [CI] [.91, .99], = .96, < .001) compared to AWC, which yielded an ICC of .82 (95% CI [.15, .96], = .80, = .006).
Both estimated CVC and AWC ( = 36) were significantly correlated with human transcriptions ( = .79 and .82, respectively; < .001).
The findings align with prior validation studies, indicating that LENA is suitable for use in a Swedish context, particularly for families with children aged 11-29 months. Nonetheless, additional validation studies are necessary, particularly focusing on younger infants, to enhance our understanding of the tool's reliability in preverbal children and their caregivers.
语言环境分析（LENA）是一种技术工具，旨在全面记录和自动分析幼儿的日常语言和听觉环境。LENA记录在临床干预和研究中都起着至关重要的作用，它能深入了解儿童在家中接触到的口语量，包括成人单词量（AWC）和儿童发声量（CVC）。尽管LENA最初是为美国英语开发的，但已在其他多种语言中得到验证。本研究旨在通过将LENA的自动估计值与人工转录进行比较，评估其在瑞典语环境中的可靠性。
36名11至29个月大的儿童参与了验证研究。一名经验丰富的言语病理学家和两名特殊教育工作者对总共540分钟（9小时）的录音进行了转录。与AWC相比，CVC在150分钟内的评分者间一致性显著更高（组内相关系数[ICC]=.97，95%置信区间[CI][.91，.99]， = .96， < .001），AWC的ICC为.82（95%CI[.15，.96]， = .80， = .006）。
估计的CVC和AWC（ = 36）均与人工转录显著相关（分别为.79和.82； < .001）。
研究结果与先前的验证研究一致，表明LENA适用于瑞典语环境，特别是对于有11至29个月大儿童的家庭。尽管如此，仍需要进行更多的验证研究，特别是针对更小的婴儿，以加深我们对该工具在语言前儿童及其照顾者中的可靠性的理解。
