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Background: Longitudinal studies highlight the importance of early intervention and timely device fitting for language development in children with congenital or early acquired hearing loss. Due to the variability in hearing loss, comorbidities, family circumstances, and service access, individualised monitoring of listening development is essential to inform decision-making. The Functional Listening Index—Paediatric (FLI-P), a 64-item hierarchical checklist of listening skills, has been validated for children with hearing loss aged 0–6 years. This study aimed to develop benchmarks for the FLI-P in typically hearing children, allowing for comparison with individual children with hearing loss. Methods: FLI-P scores were obtained from parents/caregivers of 561 typically hearing children aged 0–72 months. Each child's FLI-P score was categorised into a 6-month age block, with a minimum of 36 data points per block. Quantile regression was employed to establish percentiles of FLI-P scores by age. Results: FLI-P scores were successfully recorded for all 561 children. Regression analysis determined that the 16th and 84th percentiles of FLI-P scores corresponded to approximately ±1 standard deviation from the median score for each age group. A graphical representation of these percentile trajectories was created to facilitate comparison between children with hearing loss and the normative data. Conclusion: A normative dataset of FLI-P scores from typically hearing children has been established, allowing for comparisons with the scores and developmental trajectories of individual children with hearing loss. The study demonstrates how FLI-P can guide early intervention decisions and effectively monitor progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ear infection or otitis media (OM) occurs in many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at a young age and tends to persist over a long period of time. Chronic OM is associated with conductive hearing loss that reduces a child's access to sounds. This can have a negative impact on development of listening and communication skills. Primary health and early childhood workers are best positioned to detect children with hearing and listening problems. However, they lack appropriate tools to screen and triage young children for early referral. By using a co-design approach with Aboriginal primary health workers and early childhood teachers, we have developed the Parents' Evaluation of Listening and Understanding Measure (PLUM) listening skills questionnaire. The PLUM provides a systematic framework for front-line workers to explore a parent's observations of their child's listening behaviour in everyday situations to detect hearing and listening problems in young Aboriginal children. This paper reports the development of the scale. PLUM scores for 438 children from urban, regional and remote communities in Australia were collected. The internal consistency reliability was 0.87. Normative data from 235 children with normal hearing (hearing thresholds averaged between 0.5 and 4 kHz in the better ear to be no greater than 20 dB HL) were used to define the relationship between PLUM scores and age. The functions allow performance of individual children to be related to their normal-hearing peers.

Purpose: Hearing loss is associated with changes in brain volume in regions supporting auditory and cognitive processing. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a systematic association between hearing ability and brain volume in cross-sectional data from a large nonclinical cohort of middle-aged adults available from the UK Biobank Resource (http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk). Method: We performed a set of regression analyses to determine the association between speech reception threshold in noise (SRTn) and global brain volume as well as predefined regions of interest (ROIs) based on T1- weighted structural images, controlling for hearing-related comorbidities and cognition as well as demographic factors. In a 2nd set of analyses, we additionally controlled for hearing aid (HA) use. We predicted statistically significant associations globally and in ROIs including auditory and cognitive processing regions, possibly modulated by HA use. Results: Whole-brain gray matter volume was significantly lower for individuals with poorer SRTn. Furthermore, the volume of 9 predicted ROIs including both auditory and cognitive processing regions was lower for individuals with poorer SRTn. The greatest percentage difference (-0.57%) in ROI volume relating to a 1 SD worsening of SRTn was found in the left superior temporal gyrus. HA use did not substantially modulate the pattern of association between brain volume and SRTn. Conclusions: In a large middle-aged nonclinical population, poorer hearing ability is associated with lower brain volume globally as well as in cortical and subcortical regions involved in auditory and cognitive processing, but there was no conclusive evidence that this effect is moderated by HA use. This pattern of results supports the notion that poor hearing leads to reduced volume in brain regions recruited during speech understanding under challenging conditions. These findings should be tested in future longitudinal, experimental studies.

Previous research has shown an association between children's development of psychosocial and motor skills. This study evaluated the development of these skills in 301 three-year-old deaf and hard of hearing children (M: 37.8 months) and considered a range of possible predictors including gender, birth weight, age at first fitting with hearing devices, hearing device used, presence of additional disabilities, severity of hearing loss, maternal education, socio-economic status (SES), language ability, and communication mode. Caregivers reported on children's development using the Child Development Inventory (CDI). On average, both psychosocial and motor development quotients were within the typical range for hearing children, with large individual differences. There was a positive correlation between language ability and both social and motor development, and also between social and motor development. Age at first fitting of hearing aids (as an indicator of age at identification of hearing loss), SES, degree of hearing loss, and maternal education were not significant predictors of social skill or motor development, whereas presence of additional disabilities and birth weight were. Girls performed better than boys on all but the Gross Motor subscale of the CDI. Children with hearing aids tended to perform better than those with cochlear implants on the Gross Motor subscale.

Objective: Despite high rates of bilateral hearing aid fitting globally, a number of adults continue to reject one hearing aid. The current study aimed to identify a clinically suitable tool for determining, prefitting, which clients might prefer one hearing aid. Study Sample: Ninety-five new adult hearing aid candidates, aged 49-87 years, were assessed prior to a first hearing aid fitting. Sixty-eight participants adhered to the prescribed protocol for both bilateral and unilateral hearing aid use. Design: Performance was assessed on a modified version of the Listening in Spatialised Noise - Sentences test (LiSN-S), the Dichotic Digits difference Test, the Experiential Hearing Aid simulator, and the Grooved Pegboard Test. All participants were fitted bilaterally, but were instructed to alternate between unilateral and bilateral hearing aid use over fourteen weeks post-fitting. Participants' wearing preferences were assessed via a short questionnaire. Results: 78% of participants expressed an overall preference for bilateral hearing aid use. Only the LiSN-S bilateral advantage test outcomes significantly correlated with overall wearing preference. Conclusions: Although the LiSN-S bilateral advantage score related to overall wearing preference, the accuracy of the predictor was too low to warrant implementation of this test prior to hearing aid fitting. The current practice of recommending bilateral hearing aid use continues to be the best option for clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study investigated the factors influencing 5-year language, speech and everyday functioning of children with congenital hearing loss. Design: Standardised tests including PLS-4, PPVT-4 and DEAP were directly administered to children. Parent reports on language (CDI) and everyday functioning (PEACH) were collected. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the influence of a range of demographic variables on outcomes. Study sample: Participants were 339 children enrolled in the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment (LOCHI) study. Results: Children’s average receptive and expressive language scores were approximately 1 SD below the mean of typically developing children, and scores on speech production and everyday functioning were more than 1 SD below. Regression models accounted for 70-23% of variance in scores across different tests. Earlier CI switch-on and higher non-verbal ability were associated with better outcomes in most domains. Earlier HA fitting and use of oral communication were associated with better outcomes on directly administered language assessments. Severity of hearing loss and maternal education influenced outcomes of children with HAs. The presence of additional disabilities affected outcomes of children with CIs. Conclusions: The findings provide strong evidence for the benefits of early HA fitting and early CI for improving children’s outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]