Intraword Variability in Children With Auditory Brainstem Implants: A Longitudinal Comparison With Children With...

Area of Science:

• Speech-language pathology
• Pediatric audiology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Auditory brainstem implantation (ABI) is an emerging technique for pediatric hearing restoration.
• Limited understanding exists regarding the phonological development in children with ABIs.
• Intraword variability, the inconsistent production of a target word by a child, is a key aspect of speech development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To longitudinally investigate intraword variability in children with auditory brainstem implants (ABIs).
• To compare the phonological development, specifically intraword variability, of children with ABIs to those with cochlear implants (CIs).

Main Methods:

• Studied three children with ABIs and compared them to age- and lexical development-matched children with CIs.
• Quantified intraword variability using relative entropy to analyze production frequency distributions.

Main Results:

• Significant individual differences in intraword variability were observed among the children with ABIs.
• Children with ABIs exhibited higher levels of intraword variability in spontaneous speech compared to children with CIs.

Conclusions:

• Children with ABIs demonstrate greater intraword speech variability than their peers with CIs.
• Findings suggest a potential delay in the phonological development of children with ABIs compared to those with CIs.