Reading Comprehension and Working Memory Capacity in Children with Hearing Loss and Cochlear Implants or Hearing Aids

Abstract

Reading comprehension and three aspects of working memory—general, visuospatial and phonological—was assessed in 41 children with hearing loss: 23 with cochlear implants and 18 with hearing aids. Performance on these tests was compared between the two groups of children with hearing loss and also related to that of 55 children with typical hearing. All children were between 6 and 14 years of age. The children with hearing aids performed significantly more poorly on the reading comprehension test than the children with typical hearing but this difference was not significant between the children with cochlear implants and the children with typical hearing. In the group of children with cochlear implants, the results from the reading test and the results from all three working memory tests correlated significantly, whereas in the group of children with hearing aids there was no correlation between the reading test and the visual working memory test. The reading test results from the children with typical hearing correlated significantly with the results from the phonological working memory test but not with the other working memory tests. The authors concluded that the children with cochlear implants might have developed orthographic decoding earlier than the children with hearing aids due to their more profound hearing loss. (Less)