Syllable Structure Processes in Children with Hearing Impairment

Background: Children with hearing impairment have difficulties to perceive high-pitched sounds such as /s/ and /t/ at the end of a word. We examined if these perceptual problems have an effect on the production of /s/ and /t/ specifically at the end of a word. Method: We conducted a picture-naming task to study the ability of hearing-impaired children to produce /s/ and /t/ in word-final position. We tested 30 children (11 children with hearing impairment and 19 children with normal hearing). They were between 3 and 4 years old when tested the first time. The hearing-impaired children were retested between the age of 6 to 8 years.. Results: Children with hearing impairment were significantly less successful in producing the syllable-final coronal obstruents /s/ and /t/ compared to children with normal hearing. Specifically, we observed a tendency to omit /s/ and/or /t/ in syllable-final consonant clusters in hearing-impaired children. The observed difficulties can continue into primary school age. Discussion: The results of the picture-naming task indicate a correspondence between specific perceptual problems and the production of /s/ and /t/ in syllable-final consonant clusters in children with hearing impairment.