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Development and validation of first‐ever speech‐specific perceptual speech evaluation tool for patients with head and neck cancer: The London speech evaluation (LSE) Scale
Author(s) -
Dwivedi Raghav C.,
Rose Suzanne St.,
Chisholm Edward J.,
Kerawala Cyrus J.,
Clarke Peter M.,
Nutting Christopher M.,
RhysEvans Peter H.,
Harrington Kevin J.,
Kazi Rehan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.21683
Subject(s) - cronbach's alpha , nasality , audiology , construct validity , reliability (semiconductor) , spearman's rank correlation coefficient , medicine , intelligibility (philosophy) , correlation , articulation (sociology) , psychology , speech recognition , statistics , computer science , psychometrics , vowel , mathematics , clinical psychology , power (physics) , physics , philosophy , geometry , epistemology , quantum mechanics , political science , law , politics
Background The aim of this study was to develop and validate the first ever speech‐specific perceptual speech‐evaluation tool for patients with head and neck cancer. Methods Five speech parameters (intelligibility, articulation, speech rate, nasality, and asthenia) and overall grade were included and evaluated. Speech samples of 117 subjects were recorded on electroglottograph equipment using a standard protocol and were independently judged and rated by 3 experienced speech and language therapists and re‐rated 12 weeks apart. Results Among patients the Cronbach's alpha (α) coefficients for internal consistency for connected speech were 0.89, whereas for single words the α coefficients ranged between 0.80 and 0.84. The Spearman's correlation coefficients for intra‐rater reliability for connected speech and words varied between 0.30 and 0.90 and 0.49 and 0.76, respectively, whereas for inter‐rater reliability the coefficients ranged between 0.53 and 0.99 and 0.56 and 0.99, respectively. For construct validity, the Spearman's correlation coefficient ranged between 0.41 and 0.55. Conclusions The London Speech Evaluation (LSE) scale demonstrated a high reliability and validity in our cohort of patients with head and neck cancer. surgery. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2012