Word Length and Syllable Shape Effects On Segmental Accuracy in Bilingual Children With Cochlear Implants and Their Peers With Normal Hearing

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2020-05

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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze speech production patterns of bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking bilingual children with hearing loss who use cochlear implants and their peers with normal hearing by specifically focusing on how hearing status, language, syllable complexity, and word length affect segmental accuracy. Method: Forty bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking children between the ages of 5;3 and 7;9 (years; months) from the greater Houston metropolitan area participated in the study. Twenty participants were cochlear implant users and 20 had normal hearing. The participants were matched across groups on chronological age, gender and socio-economic status as closely as possible. Cochlear implant users received their implants before they turned 3 years old (i.e., early implanted) and had at least 3 years of implant experience. A single-word elicitation task was used to prompt the target words in each language, using culturally- and age-appropriate items consisting of about 80 words in each language. A subset of the items was selected for the analyses to test the effects of hearing status (cochlear implant users versus their age-matched peers with normal hearing), language (Spanish versus English), word length in syllables (monosyllabic, disyllabic, and trisyllabic), and syllable complexity (no clusters versus including clusters) on segmental accuracy (percent segments correct). A repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted with hearing status as the between-subjects variable as well as three within-subjects factors: language, word length in syllables, and syllable complexity with segmental accuracy (percent segments correct) as the dependent variable. Results: There was a statistically significant main effect of hearing status [F (1, 35) = 40.24 at p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.54], language [F (1, 35) = 4.57 at p = 0.040 , partial η² = 0.12], word length in syllables [F (2, 70) = 13.42 at p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.28], and syllable complexity [F (1, 35) = 52.63 at p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.60] on segmental accuracy. Statistically significant interactions included hearing status by word length in syllables [F (2, 70) = 5.88 at p = 0.004, partial η² = 0.14], hearing status by syllable complexity [F (1, 35) = 18.20 at p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.34], language by word length in syllables [F (2, 70) = 18.03 at p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.34], language by word length in syllables by hearing status [F (2, 70) = 4.63 at p = 0.013, partial η² = 0.12], language by word length in syllables by syllable complexity [F (2, 70) = 10.67 at p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.23]. Conclusions: Hearing status, language, word length in syllables, and syllable complexity all had statistically significant effects on segmental accuracy, as predicted. Furthermore, interdependence between hearing status by syllable complexity suggests that more complex syllables are disproportionally more challenging for bilingual cochlear implant users than their peers with normal hearing. The interactions of hearing status by syllable complexity, language by word length, language by word length by hearing status, as well as language by word length by syllable complexity indicate the interdependence of these factors, painting a complex picture that is as informative for researchers in the field as it is for practicing speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and educators who work with bilingual children with hearing loss and their peers with normal hearing.

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