Speech, language, and literacy outcomes for children with mild to moderate hearing loss: A systematic review

Purpose: To systematically review the current literature to describe the speech, language, and literacy skills of children with mild to moderate hearing loss (MMHL). Method: Systematic searching of seven online databases identified 13 eligible studies examining speech, language, and literacy outcomes for children with MMHL. Studies were rated for quality. Findings were reported via narrative synthesis. Results: Many studies reported no significant differences between children with MMHL and hearing peers on speech, language, and literacy measures. Studies that did report significant differences reported that children with MMHL performed significantly more poorly than hearing peers in speech production, receptive morphology, following directions, recalling sentences, expressive morphology, and word and non-word reading. Conclusions: Due to the heterogeneity in participant characteristics, moderating factors reported, and measures used, clear patterns in the outcomes were difficult to find. Further research into speech, language and literacy outcomes for children with MMHL from early childhood to adolescence (longitudinal studies) are required to describe possible trajectories for children with MMHL including how moderating factors (such as age of hearing aid fitting, duration of use, and access to early intervention) may be contributing to these trajectories.