Cognitive Abilities Contribute to Spectro-Temporal Discrimination in Children Who Are Hard of Hearing.
Benjamin J Kirby, Meredith Spratford, Kelsey E Klein and 1 others
PMID 30130295WHAT IT FOUND
In 24 children with hearing aids, a test of distinguishing rippled sounds was tied to visual working memory and non-verbal intelligence, not aided audibility, verbal memory, or executive function.
Key findings
01Ripple discrimination was significantly correlated with listener age (r = .53, p = .016), visual working memory (r = .7, p = .00085), and non-verbal intelligence (r = .64, p = .0021).
02Ripple discrimination was not significantly correlated with aided SII (r = .28, p = .22), verbal working memory (r = .4, p = .079), or executive function (r = -.22, p = .29).
03After age was controlled, visual working memory (r = .58, p = .014) and non-verbal intelligence (r = .48, p = .04) remained significant, while executive function and verbal working memory did not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only 24 children were studied, so correlations are unstable and cannot prove that cognition causes better ripple discrimination. The sample had a mean better ear aided SII of 77.7, so results may not apply to children with poorer audibility. Executive function scores were near ceiling and had little variability, and a single outlier was noted, so the DCCS may not have been sensitive enough. The verbal working memory task may have been affected by audibility, because children had difficulty repeating non-words and aided SII correlated with that task. Amplification history, such as age at identification or daily hearing aid use, was not collected. The supplied text does not report speech recognition outcomes, despite the stated goal including speech recognition. Findings are cross-sectional associations, not evidence that an intervention works.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not include a conflicts-of-interest declaration. The article is tagged as supported by NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that training visual working memory or non-verbal intelligence will improve auditory discrimination or speech perception. This study only measured correlations in 24 children and did not test an intervention.