Speech Discrimination in Infancy Predicts Language Outcomes at 30 Months for Both Children with Normal Hearing and Those with Hearing Differences

Background: Speech discrimination assessments are used to validate amplification fittings of older children who are hard of hearing (CHH). Unfortunately, speech discrimination is not assessed clinically ≤24 months and in turn no studies have investigated the relationship between speech discrimination during infancy and later language development among CHH.

Objective: To examine the relationship between an individual infant's speech discrimination measured at 9 months and their expressive/receptive spoken language at 30 months for children with normal hearing (CNH) and CHH.

Methods: Behavioral speech discrimination was assessed at 9 months and language assessments were conducted at 16, 24, and 30 months using a parent questionnaire, and at 30 months using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning among 90 infants (49 CNH; 41 CHH).

Results: Conditioned Head Turn (CHT) performance for /a-i/ significantly predicted expressive and receptive language at 30 months across both groups. Parental questionnaires were also predictive of later language ability. No significant differences in speech discrimination or language outcomes between CNH and CHH were found.

Conclusions: This is the first study to document a positive relationship between infant speech discrimination and later language abilities in both early-identified CHH and CNH.