Investigating the Effects of Speaking Rate on Spoken Language Processing in Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

This study aimed to investigate how hearing loss affects (a) spoken language processing and (b) processing of faster speech in school-age children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH).

Spoken language processing was compared in thirty-six 7- to 12-year-olds who are DHH and 31 peers with normal hearing using a word detection task. Children listened for a target word in sentences presented at a normal (4.5 syllables per second [syll./s]) versus fast (6.1 syll./s) speaking rate and pressed a key when they heard the word in the sentence. Response time was taken as an outcome measure. Relationships between working memory capacity, vocabulary size, and processing speed were also assessed.

Children who are DHH were slower than their peers with normal hearing to detect words in sentences, but no evidence for a negative effect of speaking rate was observed. Furthermore, contrary to expectation, a larger working memory capacity was associated with slower spoken language processing, with effects stronger for younger children with smaller vocabulary sizes.

Regardless of speaking rate, children who are DHH may be at risk for delays in spoken language processing relative to peers with normal hearing. These delays may have consequences for their access to learning and communication in spoken forms in everyday environments, which contain additional challenges such as background noise, competing talkers, and speaker variability.