Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia; ARC Centre for Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2020 Nov;138:110398. doi: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2020.110398. Epub 2020 Sep 22.
Recent literature has highlighted a link between hearing loss as a result of otitis media in the early years of life and impacted binaural processing skills in later childhood. Such findings are of particular relevance to Indigenous Australian children, who tend to experience otitis media earlier in life and for longer periods than their non-Indigenous counterparts. There is also growing interest in the effects of reduced auditory processing ability on a child's early learning of language and, specifically, on phonological awareness that contributes to word reading skills. The aim of the present study was to determine the association between hearing thresholds, dichotic listening skills and phonological awareness in children with pervasive otitis media (OM) from remote Indigenous communities of Australia who generally do not speak English as a first language.
Participants included one hundred and one children between the ages of 4.8-7.9 years (mean 6.1 years) from three separate remote Northern Territory communities. Evaluations included otoscopy, air conduction PTA, and tympanometry. All children were also assessed on the Dichotic Digits difference test (DDdT) and the Foundations of Early Literacy Assessment (FELA), assessing children's dichotic listening and phonological awareness respectively.
The results showed that 56% of the children had middle ear dysfunctions (type B and type C on tympanometry results) in at least one ear on the day. Partial correlation showed a significant correlation, between dichotic scores and FELA with age as covariate (r = 0.45, p < 0.001). One way ANOVA showed females exhibited a significantly higher performance compared to males on FELA [F (1, 99) = 5.47, p = 0.021]. The overall regression model was found to be significant in predicting total FELA scores [F (7, 77) = 7.56, p < 0.0005]. Age and gender as well as dichotic listening scores explain 40.7% of the variance.
The results reinforce the importance of managing the ear health of Indigenous children, clarifying the impact this has on listening and phonological awareness. These findings highlight the importance of evaluating children's listening abilities, and how poor listening can impact phonological awareness. The findings have important implications for ensuring optimal listening and learning conditions in schools in remote NT communities.
最近的文献强调了早年中耳炎导致的听力损失与后期儿童双耳处理能力受损之间的联系。这些发现对于澳大利亚土著儿童尤为重要，他们的中耳炎发病时间更早，持续时间也比非土著儿童长。人们也越来越关注听觉处理能力下降对儿童早期语言学习的影响，特别是对语音意识的影响，语音意识有助于阅读单词的能力。本研究的目的是确定来自澳大利亚偏远土著社区的患有持续性中耳炎（OM）的儿童的听力阈值、双耳分听技能和语音意识之间的关系，这些儿童通常不以英语作为第一语言。
参与者包括来自北领地三个偏远社区的 101 名 4.8-7.9 岁（平均 6.1 岁）的儿童。评估包括耳镜检查、空气传导 PTA 和鼓室图。所有儿童还接受了双耳分听数字测试（DDdT）和早期读写基础评估（FELA）的评估，分别评估儿童的双耳分听和语音意识。
结果显示，当天有 56%的儿童至少一只耳朵存在中耳功能障碍（鼓室图结果为 B 型和 C 型）。偏相关显示，在年龄为协变量的情况下，双耳分听分数与 FELA 之间存在显著相关性（r=0.45，p<0.001）。单因素方差分析显示，女性在 FELA 上的表现明显高于男性[F(1,99)=5.47，p=0.021]。总体回归模型对预测总 FELA 得分具有显著意义[F(7,77)=7.56，p<0.0005]。年龄、性别以及双耳分听分数解释了 40.7%的方差。
研究结果强调了管理土著儿童耳部健康的重要性，阐明了这对听力和语音意识的影响。这些发现突出了评估儿童听力能力的重要性，以及听力差如何影响语音意识。研究结果对确保偏远北领地社区学校的最佳听力和学习条件具有重要意义。
