Phonological Outcomes in Children Aged 6-7 Years With Bilateral Cochlear Implants

Area of Science:

• Speech-language pathology
• Audiology
• Developmental pediatrics

Background:

• Phonological development is crucial for spoken language acquisition.
• Cochlear implants (CIs) offer auditory input to children with severe to profound hearing loss.
• Understanding phonological development in CI users is essential for intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine phonological development in 6- to 7-year-old children with bilateral CIs.
• To compare their phonological skills with typically hearing (TH) children.

Main Methods:

• Included 30 children with bilateral CIs (ages 6 and 7 years).
• Evaluated phoneme production and phonological process use via the Bankson-Bernthal Test of Phonology.
• Analyzed phoneme accuracy, process types/frequencies, and age-group differences.

Main Results:

• Identified 891 speech sound errors and 22 phonological processes.
• Most common processes: dentalization (6-year-olds) and cluster simplification (7-year-olds).
• 7-year-olds had fewer errors and processes than 6-year-olds; errors highest in trills, fricatives, affricates.

Conclusions:

• Children with CIs demonstrate a similar, yet slower, phonological development sequence compared to TH peers.
• Increasing hearing age in CI users correlates with improved phonological organization.
• Similarities in phonological processes underscore the advantages of early implantation and modern CI technology.