Photo caption: Hannah Alcock, Jen Smith, Isiah Atherton and Chemae Bell at Graduation 2025
Three new alumni from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC)’s Master of Audiology programme have developed the first te reo Māori diagnostic speech tests - a breakthrough that will transform hearing healthcare for Māori across Aotearoa New Zealand.
A key part of any hearing check is speech audiometry, which measures how well someone can understand speech in quiet or noisy conditions. For these tests to be accurate, they need to be done in the language a person is most comfortable with. Until now, the lack of validated te reo Māori assessments has meant audiologists could only test in English, which has raised concerns about equity, accuracy and whether the profession is meeting its responsibilities under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
UC alumni Hannah Alcock (Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu), Isiah Atherton (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāpuhi) and Chemae Bell (Ngāti Maniapoto, Tainui), supported by co-supervisors Professor Greg O’Beirne from UC’s School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing, Faculty of Science and Jen Smith (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Te Roroa), from UC’s School of Leadership and Professional Practice, Faculty of Education, worked together to design three assessments that will enable audiologists to more accurately test speech perception and hearing in te reo Māori.
The three new tools include:
A te reo Māori Simplified Matrix Sentence Test developed by Hannah Alcock to measure how well people can understand sentences in noise. This involved the selection of kupu through wānanga and refinement, recording, editing and adjusting the stimuli.
A te reo Māori version of a standard paediatric speech discrimination test used in English called the Kendall Toy Test developed by Isiah Atherton. Adaptation of this assessment required selecting and recording pairs of age-appropriate kupu Māori that followed the original linguistic principles of the original. This test can be performed down to two years of age and is urgently needed to meet the hearing assessment needs of Māori children, including those raised in Māori-language immersion environments.
A te reo Māori Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-Vowel (CVCV) Words Test for Speech Recognition Assessment developed by Chemae Bell. The test provides a set of phonemically balanced single words for speech recognition and testing across ages.
All three pieces of research took a kaupapa Māori approach, in that the development of the tests were Māori-led and made by Māori, with Māori and for Māori. This approach demonstrates deliberate strides towards equity and accuracy in hearing healthcare and in meeting the sector’s obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
With the resurgence of te reo Māori and increasing numbers of children raised in Māori-speaking households, the tools have arrived at a critical time. The new tools will help ensure whānau Māori feel comfortable in audiology clinics and confident they will receive care that meets both their medical and cultural needs.
Jen Smith, Māori supervisor and Hard of Hearing herself, says, “For the first time, Māori can be tested in our language, using assessments that are culturally safe and linguistically appropriate.”
.jpg)
