Purpose: This study aimed to analyze perceptual error patterns and mapping in Korean monosyllabic word recognition across different hearing levels, using confusion matrix analysis to quantify phoneme similarity and perceptual distance. By examining detailed phoneme-level confusions, the research sought to clarify how hearing loss alters recognition and discrimination. Methods: Seventytwo participants were divided into four hearing groups: normal hearing, mild, moderate, and severe hearing loss. Each participant listened to 726 Korean monosyllabic words spoken in a controlled acoustic environment and provided identifications for each. Recognition errors were systematically classified according to onset, nucleus, and coda positions. Confusion matrices were generated for each group and a six-level error bracket classification applied. Perceptual similarity and distance among phoneme pairs were assessed using Shepard’s Law and perceptual mapping was visualized for each hearing group. Results: Phoneme recognition accuracy declined with increasing hearing loss, most notably for onset and nucleus positions. Moderate and severe hearing loss groups exhibited significantly higher error rates and larger perceptual distances than normal hearing and mild loss groups. The total similarity counts for onset, vowel, and coda all increased as hearing impairment worsened. Severe hearing loss participants showed peak perceptual distances for critical phoneme pairs, indicating diminished discrimination ability. Group-wise perceptual maps clearly differentiated error patterns by hearing condition. Conclusion: Hearing loss substantially compromises Korean monosyllabic word recognition, leading to elevated error rates and increased perceptual distances among phonemes. These findings underscore the necessity for hearing-level-specific aural rehabilitation strategies and provide foundational auditory mapping data for hearing-impaired populations.
Ma et al. (Fri,) studied this question.