Comparing the Phonological Awareness Skills Between Persian-speaking Monolingual Cochlear-implanted and Healthy Children

Abstract

Background and Aim: Phonological awareness skills, as part of phonological processing abilities, can predict the extent of success in acquiring written and reading skills. Phonological awareness skills are of concern in children with severe and profound hearing loss, which has been less studied in this population. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate these skills in Cochlear-Implanted (CI) children and compare them with their healthy counterparts. Methods & Materials: The study population included 25 CI children and 25 healthy children, aged 4-6 years, who were monolingual Persian speakers. The selected CI and healthy children were selected from the Rehabilitation Center of Naqmeh and the Kindergartens in Mashhad, City, Iran, respectively. After selecting each participant, the test of phonological awareness was administered. To compare the mean scores of each subtest, the obtained data were analyzed in SPSS v. 21 using the Mann-Whitney U test. Ethical Considerations: This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (Code: IR.MUMS.REC.1396.263). Results: The mean scores of CI children were significantly lower than that of their healthy peers in all phonological awareness subscales (P<0.05). Conclusion: The obtained data suggested that healthy children presented better performance than the CI children in the phonological awareness test. Poor phonological awareness skills in CI children seem to be associated with hearing deprivation before cochlear implantation; thus, it requires to speed up surgery at an early age and the implementation of an effective rehabilitation program.