CSIM - Children's Speech Intelligibility Measure
 

Topics

 Requirements

 Installing the scoring software

 Creating waveform files for a child

 Choosing the directory in which the files reside

 Entering identifying information

 Scoring the test
 

CSIM was developed by Kim Wilcox and Sherrill Morris.  It is published by the
Psychological Corporation.  This computerized version was developed by Tom Creutz
and Susan Nittrouer at Boys Town National Research Hospital strictly for use by our
friends.  It is not meant to conform to standard Windows programming characteristics.
All instructions in the CSIM examiner's manual on how to collect speech samples and
concerning who should do the scoring should be followed.

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Requirements


To use this software you will need the following

- the examiner's manual for CSIM, available from the Psychological Corporation
- an IBM PC-compatible computer with at least 128 megabytes of memory
- the Windows 95/98 operating system, (It may also work under later Windows
  operating systems, but that has not been tested.)
- a Windows sound card that allows A/D and D/A conversion
- a software package for recording, editing, and saving waveform files (in .WAV format)
- a microphone and pre-amplifier for recording speech samples
- an amplifier and headphones or loudspeaker for playing speech samples

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Installing the scoring software


Insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive. The installation program should start auto-
matically, but if not, select the option "Run" on the "Start Button".  Browse to your
CD-ROM drive, select the file "setup.exe" and click Open, then click "OK."  A prompt
appears saying "This will install CSIM. Do you wish to continue?"  Click "Yes".
The installation program will then start.  Follow the prompts to complete the installation.

The installed program can be run from the "Start Button" Programs menu, or from the
CSIM shortcut on the desktop.  CSIM comes with a sample set of words to demonstrate
the rating process.  Choose the "Sample" item in the "Browse" menu, then choose
the "Rate" menu and try rating the sample words.

CSIM can be uninstalled from the computer if it is no longer needed by choosing
"My Computer | Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs", picking CSIM from the
list of programs, clicking add/remove, then clicking "Yes" to the "Are you sure?" prompt.

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Creating waveform files for a child


Choose one of the 200 word lists provided in the CSIM examiner's manual,
and digitize samples of the fifty words on that list spoken by the child.  Samples
should be Mono, recorded at 22050 samples per second.  Next, edit the samples
such that each of the fifty words is in a file of its own,  named using the convention
"list number_word number_word.wav",  where word number is padded with a zero if
less than 10.  For example, the third word on the 71st list would be named
 "71_03_weird.wav".  This collection of files must be in a separate directory,
containing waveform files for this child alone, at this test date only.

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Choosing the directory in which the files reside


Choose the "Browse" option on the "Browse" menu.  Select the folder
in which the .wav files for this child's session are stored.  Then click "OK".
After the directory has been chosen, some useful information is displayed in the bar
at the bottom of the screen. You will see the name of the directory chosen, a count of
.wav files in that directory, the name of the file containing the session's identifying
information, and a count of how many persons have rated this session.

Once you have chosen a directory, the "Identify" and "Rate" menus are enabled.

A set of sample files is included for demonstration purposes within the install-
ation directory, usually "C:\Program Files\BTNRH\Csim\sample\".  You can
"Browse" to that directory, or choose  "Sample" in the "Browse" menu.

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Entering identifying information


Identifying information on a session with a child must be entered before
rating can be done.  This information only needs to be entered once, usually at
the time of the session.  First browse to the directory where the .wav files for the
child's session are stored.  Then choose the "Identify" menu.  Enter the
Child's Name, Date of Birth, Examiner's Name, and Date of Test, then click
the "Save" button.  The identifying information is stored in a file named "idinfo.txt"
in the directory with the session's .wav files.  The identifying information can be
reviewed at a later time by browsing to that folder and choosing the "Identify" menu.

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Scoring the test


Identifying information for the session must have been entered before
rating is allowed.  To rate, choose the "Rate" menu.  The rating form appears,
showing a list of 50 words to be identified.  Click "Play" to play a sound to be
rated.  After the sound plays a list of possible choices appears.  If you need to
hear the word again, you can click "Play" again.  Choose the word which sounds
most like what you heard.  The list will then advance to the next word to be rated.
You can go back a word using the up-button, or by choosing a word in the list.
Once all the words have been rated, the "Score" button is enabled.  When you are
completely done rating, click the "Score" button.   A form with the Intelligibility
Rating in percent is shown.  Fill in the Rater's Name and click "Save".  The

identifying information, intelligibility, and the word-by-word ratings are saved to
a file with the rater's name and the extension .sim.   If you need to review or
reprint a rating file at a later time, open the appropriate .sim file with a text editor.

A set of sample wave files is included for demonstration purposes within the install-
ation directory, usually "C:\Program Files\BTNRH\Csim\sample\".  You can
"Browse" to that directory, or choose  "Sample" in the "Browse" menu.

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