Lee test
The Lee test or speech delay test is an audiometric method of ear, nose and throat medicine , with which the simulation of bilateral deafness or hearing loss can be revealed. The test is based on an artificially produced disturbance of the acoustic control with which a speaker checks what is spoken. The basics of the test were described by Bernard S. Lee in 1950.
Investigation process
The examinee reads a text that contains many double syllables ( despite the holding rope they stumbled into the duck pool ). What is said is recorded and, with a short delay (75–300 ms), played back to the speaker as an echo through headphones. The normal hearing is usually significantly disturbed in the flow of speech. B. repeated or incorrectly spoken.
If you are deaf or hard of hearing, this effect does not occur or only occurs at high volume. However, only the positive result, i.e. the obvious disturbance of the flow of speech, may be assessed, since language proficient people sometimes manage to continue reading correctly despite the disturbance in the control loop.
The disturbance observed during the test is known as the Lee phenomenon .
Lee phenomenon and flow disorder
In the case of stutterers , the delayed speech feedback described has the paradoxical effect that the flow of speech is improved. This is used diagnostically to distinguish between stuttering and stammering . The industry offers so-called speech managers for stuttering therapy , which are worn like a hearing aid and produce constant speech feedback. The devices help some stutterers, while others feel significantly disturbed.
literature
- Peter Plath: The hearing organ and its function . 5th edition. Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-89166-151-7 , pp. 128 .