Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the Mandarin tone identification ability in children with hearing impairment (HI) in quiet and in noise using the new developed Mandarin Tone Identification Test (MTIT), and to evaluate the practical application of MTIT.
Method: Subjects were Mandarin-speaking children with moderate, severe and profound HI and aged from 5 to 12 years (n = 81, Male = 37, Female = 44). The MTIT was administered in five test conditions: in quiet and in -10, -5, 0 and +5 dB signal-to-noise ratios (S/N).
Results: The degree of HI significantly influenced the tone identification ability. The tone identification performance of children with moderate to severe HI was significantly better than that of children with profound HI. However, when compared with children with normal hearing, the performance of children with moderate to severe HI was not satisfactory. Among the six tone contrasts, the Tone 1/Tone 2 and Tone 2/Tone 3 contrasts were the most difficult tone contrasts for children with profound HI and the Tone 2/Tone 3 contrast was the most difficult for children with moderate to severe HI in quiet.
Conclusions: MTIT could be used to examine tone perception ability of children with hearing aids. In quiet, the Tone 1/Tone 2 and Tone 2/Tone 3 contrasts are difficult to identify, while six tone contrasts are all difficult to identify for children with HI in noise. In future, the MTIT can also be used to evaluate the tone identification ability on children cochlear implants.