Device Use Among Spanish-English Bilingual and English Monolingual Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

This report compares device use in a cohort of Spanish-English bilingual and English monolingual children who are deaf and hard of hearing, including children fitted with traditional hearing aids, cochlear implants (CIs), and/or bone-conduction hearing devices.

Participants were 84 Spanish-English bilingual children and 85 English monolingual children from clinical sites across the United States. The data represent a subset obtained in a larger clinical trial. Device use obtained via data logging was modeled as a function of language group, device type, child age, sex, and parental education.

Among children with traditional hearing aids, bilingual children wore their devices significantly fewer hours per day than monolingual children, but this group difference was not observed for children with CIs or bone-conduction hearing devices. In the monolingual group, older children wore their devices significantly more hours than younger children, but this effect of age was not present in the bilingual group. Parent report was consistent with data logging for bilingual and monolingual children.

Spanish-English bilingual hearing aid users wore their devices less than their English monolingual peers, particularly among older children. This group effect was not observed for children with CIs or bone-conduction hearing devices. Additional studies are needed to identify factors that contribute to device use among bilingual children with hearing aids.