Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the lexical outcomes in auditory closure of children with aided residual hearing. Patients and Methods: A total of 37 children (from 4;7 to 8;2 years old) with bilateral (n = 23) or unilateral (n = 14) sensorineural hearing loss (average at frequencies of 0.5, 1, 2, 4 kHz >20 to >90 dB in the better ear) of unknown onset (n = 31) were recruited out of the 1994 implemented Göttinger Hör-Sprachregister (Gö HSR). Mean age at diagnosis: 72.0 months (SD 9.8; min. 48; max. 88), mean age at hearing aid implementation: 73.0 months (SD 9.4). All children demonstrated an average nonverbal intelligence, and none suffered from major comorbidities. The subtest ‘Auditory Closure’ of the standardized (compared to normally developing hearing children) German version of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities was carried out at 3 time points (t1–t3). Mean time interval t1–t3: 20.3 months (SD 4.7). The test raw scores were converted to T scores (mean = 50, SD = 10). The first psychometric examination took place after the ascertainment of the hearing loss (t1). Two follow-ups (t2, t3) were performed at 6- to 9-month time intervals. Results: On average, the study group exhibited age-appropriate performances at t1 and significantly improved over time. The average performance of bilaterally impaired children increased most notably (t1–t3; p = 0.008). Subgrouped by age at diagnosis ≤73 months (cut-off for split-half comparison), the performances at t3 were statistically significantly different from those of t1 (t1–t3; p = 0.002). A multiple regression analysis demonstrated the effect of the ability of auditory closure at t1 (p < 0.001) and of nonverbal intelligence (p = 0.002) on the outcome measure at t3. Conclusion: Auditory closure is less determined by degree of hearing loss than by the size of the individual vocabulary and the nonverbal intelligence potential.

Keywords:
Sensorineural hearing impairment, Auditory closure, Language development, Children
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© 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel
2007
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