Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 7, 2026
Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
Dual-task speech-in-noise performance in children with unilateral cleft lip and palate and minimal conductive hearing
Yuşa Başoğlu1, Reyhan Hürriyetoğlu2,3, İlayda Başoğlu4
1Department of Audiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, İstanbul Medipol University, İstanbul, Türkiye. ybasoglu@medipol.edu.tr.
Purpose:
Children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) frequently experience middle-ear dysfunction and conductive hearing loss, which may affect functional listening in noise. This study examined speech-in-noise recognition and visual-task latency cost during concurrent auditory-visual task performance in children with unilateral CLP and minimal conductive hearing loss.
Methods:
Twenty-five children with unilateral CLP and minimal conductive hearing loss and 28 age-matched typically developing controls, aged 7-15 years, completed audiological assessment, a single-task speech-in-noise condition (SIN), a concurrent auditory-visual condition combining speech recognition in noise with a randomized visual saccade task (SIN-WS), and a saccade-only condition. Word recognition accuracy and mean saccadic latency were recorded. Articulation was assessed in the CLP group using a standardized cleft speech assessment.
Results:
Children with CLP showed poorer word recognition accuracy than controls in both SIN and SIN-WS conditions. Model-based analysis showed significant main effects of group and condition, whereas the Group × Condition interaction for word recognition was not significant. Mean saccadic latency increased during the concurrent-task condition in both groups, with a significantly greater increase in the CLP group. Within the CLP group, higher articulation error counts were associated with poorer word recognition accuracy and greater saccadic-latency cost.
Conclusion:
Children with unilateral CLP and minimal conductive hearing loss showed reduced speech-in-noise recognition and greater visual-task latency cost during concurrent auditory-visual task performance. These findings support the clinical value of assessing functional listening beyond isolated auditory thresholds in children with CLP.
