Babbling and consonant production in children with hearing impairment who use hearing aids or cochlear implants – a pilot study

Abstract

Objective: To investigate early auditory prerequisites in relation to the use of canonical babbling (CB) and early consonant production in a heterogeneous group of children with hearing impairment (HI) and in comparison to controls with normal hearing (NH).

Methods: Five children with unilateral or bilateral HI who used hearing aids (HA) (0;9–1;7 years) and six children with cochlear implants (CI) (0;10–2;0 years) were compared to data from 22 children with NH (0;10–1;6 years). Hearing age, type of HI and daily use of hearing technology (hours) was investigated in relation to CB ratio and consonant production. Analysis of babbling from video recordings during verbal interaction between a parent and child was independently performed by two observers. Intra- and inter-agreement were calculated.

Results: Children with HI used less CB compared to children with NH. Less CB utterances and occurrences of dental/alveolar stops were found in children with HA who had a hearing age of 5 months and who used their hearing technology 5 h per day. The children with CI reached an expected CB ratio and consonant production after 8.5 months with daily fulltime use of CI.

Conclusions: Even a mild hearing loss in early childhood may affect and delay the onset of important linguistic milestones like canonical babbling and consonant production. It was indicated that children with CI or HA might receive different attention and intervention services. Longer hearing age and full-time use of hearing technology may influence positively on CB ratio and consonant production in children with HI.

Keywords:

• Hearing loss
• hearing age
• cochlear implants
• hearing aids
• canonical babbling
• consonant production

Acknowledgements

We thank Maria Drott and Erica Billermark for their help in audiological assessment procedure and especially the families for participating in the study. In addition, we thank Jeremy Wales for proofreading of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ulrika Löfkvist

Ulrika Löfkvist is Associate professor at the University of Oslo, Norway, and Research Coordinator at the Auditory Implant Center Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. She has previously worked as clinician (CCC-SLP, LSLS cert. AVEd) at the Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden. Her research is focusing on language development and skills in individuals with hearing loss.

Kristin Bäckström

Kristin Bäckström is a Speech and Language Pathologist with a clinical position at the Habilitation and Care in the Stockholm County Council. She previously completed her MSc at Karolinska Institutet.

Malin Dahlby-Skoog

Malin Dahlby-Skoog is a Speech and Language Pathologist with a clinical position at the Haninge Rehab in the Stockholm County Council. She previously completed her MSc at Karolinska Institutet.

Sofia Gunnarsson

Sofia Gunnarsson is a Speech and Language Pathologist with a clinical position at the Södermanland County Council in Nyköping. She previously completed her MSc at Karolinska Institutet.

Malin Persson

Malin Persson is a Speech and Language Pathologist with a clinical position at the Stocksunds RE/Speech and Language in the Stockholm County Council.

Anette Lohmander

Anette Lohmander is Professor in Speech and Language Pathology at Karolinska Institutet and Head of Division of Speech and Language Pathology, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet. She is also a Speech and Language Pathologist at the Karolinska University Hospital. Her research is currently focused on early speech and language development and difficulties associated with adverse conditions such as cleft palate and hearing impairment.