╨╧рб▒с>■  -/■   ,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ье┴M Ё┐'bjbjт=т= ""АWАW'      l       ТТТТ Ю╢╛╛╛╛╛╛╛╛ОРРРРРР$┼ хИ┤ ╛╛╛╛╛┤J  ╛╛╔JJJ╛R ╛ ╛ОJ╛ОJD JО  О╛▓ аE√tРi╟tТ·ОО▀0Оm @mОJ    ┘304/2127 C#: 044 34 8461 1 decibel off in ranges 25db at 500, 25db at 3000, 35db at4000 need 26db at 500, 26db at 3000, OK at 4000 It is more likely than not that the ?core attained in the ??? portion of the ? is less than the stated ? score of 94 and that a ? of 0% should be awarded in this case. The conclusion rests on three premises. 1`) That a Уmargin of errorФ or Уdegree of varianceФ exists in the speech discrimination protion of the Maryland CNC hearing test and that the stated score would drop the 94 rating to less than 94 when the Уmargin of errorФ or Уdegree of varianceФ was applied 2) that ,because several words were guessed atand that right guesses throw off the score in favor of a rating of a higher rating and that right guesses should not have counted towards the score (uncertainty) (true score) (guessed at in all tests) (correct, incorrect) 3) in closed room with hearing aid like devices In preparing for this hearing, research was conducted into the validity of the word discrimination portion of the Maryland CNC hearing test given by the VA. Research was conducted at the University of Maryland ??? and the Northeastern University ??? in Boston. In both cases teaching professors were consulted and research was conducted in their libraries. It is interesting to note that in both cases, the libraries of both of these universities had only 3 short articles that obliquely mentioned the Maryland CNC test (dating from the 1970 Ц 19989 ?) and that conversations with these audiology departments could not unearth any evidence that this test was used by any other entity, except the VA. Neither department make any mention of the Maryland CNC test in their audiology courses and neither knew anything substantial about this test. Other research was conducted online for information at web information sites outside the VA site. No information on the Maryland CNC was found. No information on the history of the Maryland CNC test was found , nor was any information found on the procedures used, or the reliability, or the margin of error that all speech discrimination tests have. Still further research was conducted through the US Military, They didnТt know anything about the Maryland CNC test, either. Faced with these difficulties, the following question was researched, in regard to Premise One: Is there a Уmargin of errorФ or Уdegree of varianceФ from observed value to true value in all speech discrimination word tests. It was recommended by one of the professors, mentioned above, that the answer lies within publication from the Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, entitled УSPEECH Ц DISCRIMINATION SCORES MODELED AS A BINOMIAL VARIABLEФ by Aaron R. Thornton, University of Wisconsin, Madison and Michael J. m. Raffin, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.. Although much of this article was extremely technical, it does indicate that all speech discrimination tests have a Уmargin of errorФ or Уdegree of varianceФ from observed value to true value. Since this is the case, even a slight degree of variance in either direction would cause the value to shift towards the lower end of the scale. Since there is no literature available on the VA test procedures, it is assumed that this Уmargin of errorФ or Уdegree of varianceФ is not factored out. In this case, a speech discrimination score of 94 was observed. If any degree of variance (either plus or minus ) is applied, the VA, because of the ??? regulation that states that the VA must use the minus variance. This will drop the speech discrimination score below the 94 score and will require a 0% rating for this case. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501 (a)) Premise 2: During the speech discrimination portion of the hearing tests, several words were unclear to the examinee. However, a best guess answer was given by the examinee. The answer was given in a manner and tone that indicated that the test subject was uncertain as to the correctness of the response. The answer was given in an interrogatory, questioning manner to indicate to the testing official that the answer given was an uncertain response and constituted the examinees best guess. At no time, either before or during the test, was the examinee instructed to respond with anything other than what he thought the word presented was. No instructions were given to the examinee by the testing official not to guess at what the words were. Since the test is only right or wrong answers, guesses would skew the score towards the higher mark, but guesses are not indicative of the degree of hearing ability; they are only guesses. Therefore, if guesses are not right answers, but only guesses, they must be disqualified as right answers. If this is the case the number of clearly heard words would drop with a corresponding drop in the score of 94. It is for this reason also that the speech discrimination score should be scored below the 94 score and will require a 0% rating for this case. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501 (a)) Premise 3 The terst was conducted in a closed room with hearing aid like devices. ╣$%ажй╩═√ № Щ3'·Є·ЄЄЄ·5БB*\Бph  B*ph  r║╗╝fgПФб╥╙╘! " Г Д     d 23ЫЬ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤√¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤'¤ЬзиGH╤╥▄▌%&'¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ 1Рh░╨/ ░р=!░"░#Ра$Ра%░ i8@ё 8 NormalCJ_HaJmH sH tH <A@Є б< Default Paragraph Font0B`Є0 Body Text B*ph .U@в. 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