The influence of oral language environment on auditory development.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the auditory processing of hearing children who were immersed in an oral language environment during early childhood with that of children who were poorly exposed to oral language during the same period. METHODS: Sixty children aged between 5 and 10 years participated in this study. They were divided in two groups. Group 1 comprised of 30 children who had deaf signer parents, and Group 2 comprised of 30 children who had hearing parents. These children underwent the following auditory processing tests: Pediatric Speech Intelligibility, Dichotic Digits, Pitch Pattern Sequence, Gaps-in-Noise, and Memory Tests for Instrumental and Verbal sounds. RESULTS: Group 1 had significantly poorer performance than that of Group 2 in all tests. In addition, an analysis by age range revealed that the differences between groups were more pronounced in younger children (5-6 years). CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the development of auditory skills is strongly influenced by access to oral linguistic sounds. Thus, a child's exposure to an oral language environment from birth is important to the adequate development of the auditory system functions.

Linguagem oral de adolescentes deficientes auditivos: avaliação fonoaudiológica e relato dos professores / Oral language of hearing impaired adolescents: phonoaudiological evaluation and teachers report

Resumo:OBJETIVO:caracterizar a linguagem de adolescentes deficientes auditivos oralizados que frequentam a escola regular, assim como a percepção do professor a respeito da comunicação desses alunos.MÉTODOS: amostras de fala espontânea de adolescentes portadores de perda auditiva pré-linguística de grau severo ou profundo e entrevista com os professores.RESULTADOS: as maiores dificuldades apresentadas pelos indivíduos na avaliação fonoaudiológica foram em relação à linguagem abstrata e à inteligibilidade de fala; no relato dos professores foram em relação à argumentação em avaliações escritas e à conversação com mais de um interlocutor.CONCLUSÃO: apesar do grau de perda auditiva apresentado pelos indivíduos, observou-se um bom desempenho destes quanto à comunicação, sendo esta efetiva em sua vida diária e escolar.

Abstract:PURPOSE:to characterize the language of oralized hearing impaired adolescents attending regular school, as well as the perception of the teacher about this student's communication.METHODS:sample of spontaneous speech of adolescents with pre-linguistic severe to profound hearing loss and interview with their teachers.RESULTS:the main difficulties presented by individuals in clinical assessment were concerning to the abstract language and speech intelligibility; teacher reports were in relation to argumentation in written tests and conversation with more than one person.CONCLUSION:despite the hearing loss that such individuals present, they have obtained a good and effective communication performance.