Browsing by Author "Juslén, Janna"

Objectives. Hearing impairment (HI) is a risk factor for speech and language development, and it can cause delay in vocabulary development and reduce the ability of word stress perception and production. HIs decrease auditory discrimination. Therefore, perceiving auditory cues of speech is limited. Previous studies suggest that musical hobbies, such as singing, may improve the language development and speech perception of HI-children. Previous studies suggest that group-based music activities may have positive impacts on language development. Age of hearing device implementation is directly linked to language skills of HI-children. Bilateral and early hearing devices improve spoken language skills and vocabulary of bilaterally HI-children. The aim of this thesis was to investigate, whether expressive vocabulary of HI-children improves during a 6,5-month follow-up, whether the amount of singing in groups or syllable and word stress repetition scores correlate to said vocabulary development and lastly, study the relationship of the age at first hearing device implementation to vocabulary development and syllable and word stress repetition scores. This thesis is a part of the MULAPAPU research project. Methods. The participants (N=17) were bilaterally hearing-impaired children aged 2 to 6 years, who used either bilateral cochlear implants (CI), bilateral hearing aids (HA) or unilateral CI and contralateral HA. They were grouped based on answers given by their parents regarding the amount of singing in groups before the follow-up (group 1: more frequent; group 2: less frequent). Their ages at first hearing device implementation were examined. The Finnish Communicative Development Inventory III (FinCDI III), a parent-report form instrument, was used to investigate expressive vocabulary development. A non-word repetition task was used to test the repetition of syllable stress and word stress. The vocabulary development was examined between first (T1) and last (T3) measuring point within 6,5 months, and syllable and word stress repetition and singing groups in T1-measuring point. Results and conclusions. A statistically significant correlation was found between age of first HA implementation and word stress repetition, where the earlier HA was implemented the better word stress repetition was. The participants’ expressive vocabulary did improve between T1 and T3. Age at T1 correlated with vocabulary development significantly. No correlation between singing groups and vocabulary development was found, but group 1 was on average found to be older in age than group 2. On average vocabulary scores of group 1 were higher in both T1 and T3, but improvement in scores was greater in group 2. No other correlations were found between study variables. The results of this thesis reinforce the idea, that early HA implementation improves word stress perception and the expressive vocabulary of CI- and HA-children under 6 years develops quickly. There is a need to study the effects of singing in groups and effects of syllable and word stress repetition to expressive vocabulary development of HI-children in future research.