SLPCohortInternational journal of language & communication disorders2025

Consonant Proficiency in Children With and Without Hearing Impairment Assessed With Profiles of Early Expressive Phonological Skills - Swedish (PEEPS-SE).

Anna Persson, Dyveke Christensen Karlström, Traci Flynn and 2 others

PMID 40878667

WHAT IT FOUND

Children with hearing impairment had fewer established consonants at 24 and 30 months.

Their consonant accuracy was lower at 24 months, but at 30 months it did not separate the groups.

Key findings

01At 24 months, children with hearing impairment had a mean Percentage of Consonants Correct of 45.95%, compared with 62.71% for children with normal hearing, and the difference was significant.

02At 30 months, the hearing impairment group had a mean Percentage of Consonants Correct of 59.72%, compared with 78.17% for the normal hearing group, but the difference was not significant.

03The number of established consonants was significantly lower for children with hearing impairment at both ages: 6.60 versus 10.9 at 24 months and 12.00 versus 14.05 at 30 months.

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs

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What it does not show

Only 9 children with hearing impairment and 21 children with normal hearing were studied, and the authors said the small groups and large variation require caution. The PEEPS-SE PLUS used was a preliminary version. Fifteen of 59 assessments were excluded because children produced fewer than 50% of target words, and one-third of 24-month-olds did not produce enough words to be analysed. The sample was restricted to Swedish-speaking children with no known additional disabilities and, in the hearing impairment group, moderate bilateral hearing loss with early hearing aid fitting. Only three PEEPS-SE measures were analysed, so other aspects of the test were not examined.

Declared interests

The authors reported no conflicts of interest.

The easy way to misread this

Do not treat PEEPS-SE as a validated diagnostic test for all Swedish toddlers. This study used a preliminary version, had only 9 children with hearing impairment and 21 children with normal hearing, and excluded 15 of 59 assessments because children produced too few words.

Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →


The study

Participants
30 children (9 with hearing impairment, 21 with normal hearing); 44 of 59 recording occasions analysed
Certainty of evidence
Low

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Anna Persson, Dyveke Christensen Karlström, Traci Flynn, et al. Consonant Proficiency in Children With and Without Hearing Impairment Assessed With Profiles of Early Expressive Phonological Skills - Swedish (PEEPS-SE). International journal of language & communication disorders. 2025.

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