Auditory working memory measures in children with hearing impairment: a systematic review

Abstract

Auditory working memory (AWM) is the process by which information is held in the brain for a brief duration of time until either it is employed to complete a task, deleted after a short period, or transferred to long-term memory. AWM deficits have been noticed even in children with milder hearing impairments. It is essential to incorporate AWM assessment as a part of the standard audiological battery to minimize the detrimental effects of working memory deficits. The present study systematically reviews the articles published between 2011–2021 regarding test tools available to assess AWM in children with hearing impairment and the efficiency of the same. An overview of the auditory working measures such as the forward and backward digit span test; digit span subtests of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III; non-word repetition; Illinois test of Psycholinguistic Skills-Forward Digit Span; Numbers reversed subtest from Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities; and Word and non-word recall subtests of Working Memory Test Battery-Children; Number recall, and Word order task from Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children II are provided in detail. The present systematic review also provides an overview of the efficiency of the assessment tools by discussing the correlation between the findings obtained in memory tasks with other auditory, verbal, and visual measures. The working memory performance in children with hearing impairment using a hearing aid or cochlear implant has been found to be affected but varies in nature depending on the degree of hearing loss.