title: Otitis media, hearing loss, and language learning: controversies and current research.
abstract: This article reviews research on the possible linkage of otitis media with effusion (OME) to children's hearing and development, identifies gaps, and directions for research, and discusses implications for healthcare practices. About half of children with an episode of OME experience a mild hearing loss while about 5-10% of children have moderate hearing loss. Recent prospective and randomized clinical trials suggest none to very small negative associations of OME to children's later language development. Based on both retrospective and prospective longitudinal studies, associations between OME and perceiving speech in noise and tasks that require equal binaural hearing have been reported but have not been adequately studied with regard to functional outcomes. Thus, on average, for typically developing children, OME may not be a substantial risk factor for later speech and language development or academic achievement. However, these conclusions should be interpreted cautiously, since most of these studies used OME rather than hearing loss as the independent variable (although hearing loss rather than OME is hypothesized to affect language development) and many studies did not control for important confounding variables such as socioeconomic status (SES).
authors.affiliation: FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-8180, USA. joanne_roberts@unc.edu
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gravel
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rosenfeld
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berman
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haggard
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lannon
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Lynne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vernon-Feagans
authors.forename: Ina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Wallace
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D007808:Language Therapy; D008483:Medical Assistance; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy