The effect of language knowledge on speech perception: what are we really assessing?
OBJECTIVE
The authors examined whether open-set speech perception scores are limited by knowledge of vocabulary and syntax and further considered whether remediation of vocabulary and syntax will increase open-set speech perception scores.


METHODS
This was a repeated-measures study design in the setting of a primary (elementary) school for the hearing-impaired.


METHODS
The study population was composed of three hearing-impaired children using Nucleus 22-channel cochlear implant.


METHODS
Intervention used was language remediation sessions.


METHODS
The main outcome measures were assessment of auditory-alone speech perception benefit using open-set words and sentences and assessment of syntactic knowledge using the Test of Syntactic Ability. Outcome measures were applied before and after remediation.


RESULTS
Child 1 and child 2 showed a significant postremediation improvement in their overall scores on the Test of Syntactic Ability and in their ability to perceive words learned during remediation. Child 1 and child 2 also showed a significant improvement in their scores on a modified Bamford-Kowal-Bench open-set sentence test, which specifically targeted grammatical constructs trained in remediation sessions.


CONCLUSIONS
Remediation of language knowledge deficits significantly improved open-set speech perception for two children, suggesting a need to include language remediation in cochlear implant habilitation programs.
Sarant
J Z
JZ
Bionic Ear Institute, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Blamey
P J
PJ
Cowan
R S
RS
Clark
G M
GM
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003638:Deafness / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D007807:Language Tests; D007808:Language Therapy; D013067:Speech Perception