Korean J Otolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2007 Jun;50(6):480-485.

A Study for the Acoustic Characteristics of PB Word List according to Frequency

• Park MK
• Lee JH
• Kwon HS
• Im GJ
• Woo JS
• Lee HM
• Hwang SJ
• Chae SW

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Korean phonetically balanced (PB) word list (Ham's Korean PB Word List) is currently the most commonly used word list for speech discrimination test. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency characteristics of the Ham's Korean PB word list and to compare frequency characteristics of the Ham's Korean PB word list with that of the 21st Century Sejong words, which represent characteristics of the contemporary spoken Korean language.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
The 300 syllables most commonly used were collected from the words in 21st Century Sejong project. The 21st Century Sejong words were weighted according to the frequency of usage. The 21st Century Sejong words and words from the Ham's Korean PB word list were analyzed using an acoustic analysis program that has the MATLAB function.
RESULTS
Syllables with frequencies above 2,000 Hz comprise 34% of the 21st Century Sejong words and 16% of the Ham's Korean PB word list. The Ham's Korean PB word list does not represent the high frequency characteristics of the contemporary spoken Korean language. The 21st Century Sejong words have more 'eu', 'i' and open syllables than the Ham's Korean PB word list.
CONCLUSION
The Ham's Korean PB word list does not reflect the high frequency characteristics of the contemporary spoken Korean language included in the 21st Century Sejong words. Therefore, a new PB word list that incorporates a greater number of syllables with high frequency characteristics is required.

Keyword

Speech audiometry; Speech discrimination test; Speech acoustics

MeSH Terms

Acoustics*
Audiometry, Speech
Speech Acoustics
Speech Discrimination Tests