The Effectiveness of Linguistic Intervention in Children With Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Vocabulary, grammar, and discourse skills represent distinct dimensions of language ability in young children. Research suggests that individuals with hearing loss often have difficulties with language skills as compared to their hearing counterparts. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to analyze the effectiveness of linguistic interventions aimed at improving oral discourse in children with hearing loss.

A systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA 2020 statement in five databases. A total of 23 studies were included in the systematic review. From this sample unit, 12 studies were included in the meta-analysis since they had sufficient data for analysis from a meta-analytic approach. Two meta-analyses were performed, one for each dimension of oral discourse skills, differentiating between macrostructure and microstructure and calculating the effects of the intervention and potential moderating variables.

The results suggest positive effects of the interventions with effect sizes of d = 1.01 (95% confidence interval [CI; 0.58, 1.45], p < .001) for macrostructure and d = 0.87 (95% CI [0.02, 0.60], p < .001) for microstructure. Moderator variable analyses showed that the number of participants was the only significant factor identified for the microstructure dimension.

Linguistic intervention programs improve the language of children with hearing loss. Most of these interventions include therapies that use visual supports and grammar instruction. However, these results should be interpreted with caution given the small number of studies and their high heterogeneity.