Prosodic and segmental aspects of nonword repetition in 4- to 6-year-old children who are deaf and hard of hearing compared to controls with normal hearing

Figures & data

Table 1. Hearing background of the DHH children (n = 14).

Child	Unaided PTA dB BEHL	Age at testing	Age 1st CI implantation	Age activation 1st CI	Age 2nd CI	Age 1st HA fitting	Time since 1st CI/HA
Bilateral CI
01	85.0	68.2	9.6	10.2	29.7	3.2	58.0/65.0
02	103.0	48.5	20.5	21.3	32.5	16.0	27.2/32.5
03	102.0	48.4	15.0	15.9	22.7	3.0	32.5/45.4
Mean	97.0	55.0	15.0	15.8	28.3	7.4	39.2/47.6
Bimodal CI+HA
04	57.5	79.5	56.4	58.0	–	4.9	21.5/74.6
05	55.0	57.6	49.2	50.1	–	38.2	7.5/19.4
Mean	56.3	68.6	52.8	54.1		21.6	14.5/47.0
Bilateral HA
06	46.0	64.0	–	–	–	55.9	8.1
07	42.5	55.8	–	–	–	18.9	36.9
08	64.5	58.7	–	–	–	49.3	9.4
09	25.0	73.2	–	–	–	40.4	22.8
10	30.0	50.0	–	–	–	29.0	20.9
11	50.0	64.0	–	–	–	37.8	26.2
12	55.0	48.3	–	–	–	4.1	44.2
13	47.5	68.4	–	–	–	3.9	64.4
14	52.5	59.3	–	–	–	12.4	47.0
Mean	45.9	60.2				28.0	31.1
Md CI	102.0	48.5	15.0	15.9	30.7	3.2	32.5
Md HA	47.5	59.3				29.0	26.2

Notes: Ages are reported in months. DHH = deaf and hard of hearing; PTA dB BEHL = pure tone average better ear hearing level in decibels; CI = cochlear implant; HA = hearing aid; Md = median value.

Table 2. Performance in percent (mean, SD) on the NWR task in DHH and NH children.

	DHH (n = 14)		NH (n = 29)
	M	SD	M	SD	U	z	p	r
NWR tonal word accent
Total	76.4	14.6	92.0	5.5	59.50	3.778	<0.001	0.58
Two syllables	86.3	16.5	90.8	19.7	166.00	1.221	0.244	0.18
Three syllables	78.8	26.5	93.8	10.8	130.00	2.206	0.034	0.34
Four syllables	74.8	20.6	95.1	7.9	65.00	3.906	<.001	0.60
Five syllables	69.4	19.7	87.8	10.9	87.00	3.079	0.002	0.47
NWR stress
Total	58.3	23.3	84.4	8.5	52.00	3.932	<0.001	0.60
Two syllables	82.1	19.0	96.6	13.6	118.50	3.092	0.003	0.47
Three syllables	57.9	27.2	84.1	14.5	82.00	3.298	0.001	0.50
Four syllables	58.6	31.7	85.7	14.3	96.50	2.850	0.004	0.43
Five syllables	47.2	29.9	77.6	14.8	76.00	3.344	<0.001	0.51
NWR PPC
Total	54.4	20.8	78.3	10.2	58.50	3.745	<0.001	0.57
Two syllables	56.7	21.6	88.2	10.8	38.00	4.318	<0.001	0.66
Three syllables	58.3	21.5	81.7	10.3	62.00	3.656	<0.001	0.56
Four syllables	54.5	21.8	79.2	10.3	66.00	3.551	<0.001	0.54
Five syllables	52.0	22.4	74.8	12.5	71.00	3.421	<0.001	0.52

Notes: Mann–Whitney U test was used for group comparisons; DHH = deaf and hard of hearing; NH = normal hearing; NWR = nonword repetition; PPC = percentage of phonemes correct; U = Mann–Whitney U statistic; r = effect size.

Figure 1. Mean percentages for tonal word accents, stress, consonants (PCC) and vowels (PVC) in nonword repetition (NWR) in deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) and normal hearing (NH) children.

Table 3. Group performance on phonological production, expressive grammar and receptive vocabulary.

	DHH (n = 14)		NH (n = 29)
	M	SD	M	SD	U	z	p	r	DHH < −1 SD
Phonological production
Tonal word accent (%)	94.2	6.3	96.1	5.7	150.50	1.370	0.175	0.21	14%
Stress patterns (%)	93.9	6.9	98.2	1.9	91.00	2.932	0.003	0.45	50%
PCC	74.2	23.5	93.0	6.6	66.00	3.551	< 0.001	0.54	64%
PVC	88.0	11.0	96.3	2.7	74.50	3.332	0.001	0.51	71%
Expressive grammar
Total score	23.1	7.6	34.2	4.8	34.00	4.387	< 0.001	0.67	86%
Verb morphology	7.6	3.2	11.7	2.4	62.00	3.675	< 0.001	0.56	71%
Noun morphology	8.1	3.6	14.6	2.4	25.50	4.625	< 0.001	0.71	86%
Syntax	7.4	2.6	7.9	1.9	184.00	0.501	0.628	0.08	21%
Receptive vocabulary	56.8	18.4	90.6	21.1	45.00	4.097	< 0.001	0.62	79%

Notes: Mann–Whitney U test was used for group comparisons. DHH = deaf and hard of hearing; NH = normal hearing; PCC = percentage of consonants correct; PVC = percentage of vowels correct; U = Mann–Whitney U statistic; r = effect size. ‘DHH < −1 SD’ indicates the percentage of DHH children with HI who performed more than 1 SD below the mean of the NH group.

Table 4. Comparisons between nonwords with tonal word accent 1 and 2.

	Tonal word accent 1		Tonal word accent 2
	M	SD	M	SD	z	p	r
DHH (n = 14)
Tonal word accent	81.6	14.2	68.2	20.2	2.657	0.005	0.50
Stress	58.5	22.3	57.9	30.2	0.000	1.000	0.00
PCC	47.9	22.0	45.3	22.2	0.847	0.426	0.16
PVC	62.9	20.9	66.4	20.7	1.036	0.326	0.20
NH (n = 29)
Tonal word accent	93.3	6.9	90.0	11.3	1.075	0.292	0.14
Stress	85.1	9.5	83.5	13.2	0.395	0.702	0.05
PCC	74.2	13.5	71.4	14.9	1.617	0.109	0.21
PVC	83.0	7.2	88.1	6.7	3.600	<0.001	0.47

Notes: Wilcoxon’s signed rank test was used for within-group comparisons; DHH = deaf and hard of hearing; NH = normal hearing; NWR = nonword repetition; PPC = percentage of phonemes correct; r = effect size.

Table 5. Correlations of NWR to language and background variables in the DHH group.

	Correlation coefficients (τ)
	NWR accent	NWR stress	NWR PPC
Naming PPC	0.544**	0.738**	0.739**
Grammatical production	0.520*	0.625**	0.536**
Receptive vocabulary	0.514*	0.753**	0.751**
Nonverbal cognitive ability	−0.035	0.047	0.082
Maternal education	0.234	0.247	0.255
Unaided hearing PTA	−0.492*	−0.416*	−0.464*
Age at 1st HA fitting	0.022	0.233	0.187
Duration of HA use	0.022	−0.233	−0.099
Chronological age	0.067	0.303	0.309

*p ≤ .05, **p ≤ .01. NWR = nonword repetition; DHH = deaf and hard of hearing; τ = Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient; PPC = percentage of phonemes correct; PTA = pure tone average; HA = hearing aid.

Table 6. Correlations of NWR to language and background variables in the NH group.

	Correlation coefficients (τ)
	NWR accent	NWR stress	NWR PPC
Naming PPC	0.127	0.317*	0.557**
Grammatical production	−0.044	−0.003	0.145
Receptive vocabulary	−0.128	0.118	0.419**
Nonverbal cognitive ability	0.075	0.086	0.234
Maternal education	−0.030	0.073	0.409**
Chronological age	0.071	0.130	0.261*

*p ≤ .05, **p ≤ .01. NWR = nonword repetition; NH = normal hearing; τ = Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient; PPC = percentage of phonemes correct.

Table

No. of syllables	Stress pattern	Tonal word accent	Nonword	Transcription
1	S	1	jab	jɑ́ːb
2	WS	1	ifum	ɪfʉ̟́ːm
2	SW	1	datri	dɑ́ːtrɪ
2	SW	2	mirve	mɪ̀rvɛ
3	WWS	1	revuell	rɛvɵɛ́l
3	WSW	1	kratuckel	kratɵ́kɛl
3	SWW	1	kasimum	kɑ́ːsɪmɵm
3	WSW	2	pelamna	pɛlàmna
3	SWW	2	höntpule	hø̀ntpʉ̟ːlɛ
4	WWWS	1	gettenimflär	gɛtɛnɪɱflǽːr
4	WSWW	1	hydoria	hʏdóːrɪa
4	WWSW	1	dralabelli	dralabɛ́lɪ
4	SWWW	1	knamtigavass	knámtɪgavas
4	SWWW	2	attefnuvi	àtɛfnʉ̟ːvɪ
4	WWSW	2	tibbefime	tɪbɛfìːmɛ
4	WSWW	2	ganolmulte	ganùːlmɵltɛ
5	WWWSW	1	larittobånis	larɪtɔbóːnɪs
5	SWWWW	1	delletammesar	dɛ́lɛtamɛsar
5	WSWWW	1	älymigerta	ɛlýːmɪgɛʈa
5	WWSWW	1	tissodario	tɪsʊdɑ́ːrɪʊ
5	WWWWS	1	amitrosokil	amɪtrʊsʊkíːl
5	WWSWW	2	berkatylpana	bærkatỳːlpɑːna
5	SWWWW	2	igotteklunna	ìːgɔtɛklɵna
5	WSWWW	2	filattsjolare	fɪlàtɧoːlarɛ
5	WWWSW	2	bamperinuffa	bampɛrɪnɵ̀fa

Notes: Some of the nonwords have been adopted from Sahlén et al. (1999). S = strong, stressed syllable; W = weak, unstressed syllable.

Sahlén, B., Reuterskiöld-Wagner, C., Nettelbladt, U., & Radeborg, K. (1999). Non-word repetition in children with language impairment - Pitfalls and possibilities. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 34(3), 337–352. doi:10.1080/136828299247441

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