Methodological Guide for the Adaptation of Pediatric Speech Audiometry Tests Into Other Languages
Conditions: Hearing Loss, Screening
Sponsor: Semmelweis University

Unique Protocol ID: SE 312/2021 
Brief Title: 
Adapta?on of Pediatric Speech Audiometry Tests Into Other Languages   
Oﬃcial Title: Methodological Guide for the Adapta?on of Pediatric Speech Audiometry 
Tests Into Other Languages   
 
25 August 2025 
 
 

Study protocol 
Objec0ves: To evaluate auditory func?on in children, speech audiometry is widely used in 
rou?ne clinical seNngs across many countries. However, appropriate test materials are not 
available in several languages to date. Adap?ng a speech audiometry test to another 
language poses a signiﬁcant challenge. The objec?ve of this study was to oﬀer a 
comprehensive framework for the adapta?on of speech audiometric tests into other 
languages. To date, this is the ﬁrst universal protocol of its kind that systema?cally considers 
linguis?c, phonological, and audiological aspects. 
 
Design: The present paper is a methodological study for instrument transla?on; it provides a 
protocol and an example for the adapta?on and standardiza?on of the Mainzer Audiometric 
Test for Children (MATCH) to another language. 
 
Methods: The adapta?on process is divided into six phases: iden?fying test items and 
valida?ng picture recognizability among children; ensuring linguis?c conformity by 
comparing the phoneme distribu?on of the test vocabulary to spontaneous speech reference 
data; recording the speech material in a sound-treated environment following Interna?onal 
Organiza?on for Standardiza?on (ISO) standards; equalizing the intelligibility of the recorded 
items through speech recogni?on tes?ng in adults; standardizing the test on a cohort of 
normal-hearing children aged 3–6 years, stra?ﬁed by age; ﬁnally, the diagnos?c validity of 
the adapted test is evaluated by comparing speech recogni?on thresholds to pure-tone 
audiometry results in a clinical sample. Addi?onally, to determine sensi?vity, speciﬁcity, and 
op?mal cutoﬀ points for detec?ng hearing loss, ROC analysis is used. 
 
Figure of study protocol. The ﬁgure demonstrates the six phases of the test adapta?on 
process.