This paper describes the development of speech materials in the Romani language intended for audiological and comprehension assessment of Romani-speaking children and adults living in Slovakia. The work responds to the documented lack of linguistic resources and test stimuli in Romani, which limits the accuracy of speech perception and comprehension testing.
Audiologists serving Romani-speaking populations in Slovakia now have a validated set of speech materials for testing; no practice change is warranted outside this specific linguistic context.
Developing language-specific speech materials reduces diagnostic bias and improves audiological access for underserved linguistic minority populations.
- 01New speech test materials developed specifically for the Romani language.
- 02Targets both children and adult Romani-speaking populations in Slovakia.
- 03Aims to improve accuracy of audiological and speech-comprehension assessments.
- 04Addresses a significant gap in audiology tools for linguistic minority groups.
- 05Published in Audiology Research (2026).
Romani-language speech materials improve audiological evaluation accuracy for Romani-speaking patients compared to using non-native language materials.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42201119
- DOI
- 10.3390/audiolres16030065.
- Journal
- Audiology Research
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 4
- Population
- Romani-speaking children and adults in Slovakia
- Intervention
- Development and application of Romani-language speech audiometry materials
Primary outcomes
Validity and usability of Romani-language speech materials for audiological assessment; Comprehension assessment accuracy in Romani-speaking participants