Comparison between lip-reading ability in normal and hearing impaired children

Abstract

Abstract Background Lip-reading is considered an important skill which varies considerably among normal hearing and hearing impaired (HI) children. It helps HI children to perceive speech, acquire spoken language and acquire phonological awareness. Speech perception is considered to be a multisensory process that involves attention to auditory signals as well as visual articulatory movements. Integration of auditory and visual signals occurs naturally and automatically in normal individuals across all ages. Many researches suggested that normal hearing children use audition as the primary sensory modality for speech perception, whereas HI children use lip-reading cues as the primary sensory modality for speech perception. Aim of the Work The aim of this study is to compare the lip-reading ability between normal and HI children. Participants and methods This is a comparative descriptive case control study. It was applied on 60 hearing impaired children (cases) and 60 normal hearing children (controls) of the same age and gender. The age range was (3-8 years). The Egyptian Arabic Lip-reading Test was applied to all children. Results There was statistically significant difference between the total mean scores of the EALRT between normal and HI children. Conclusion The results of the study proved that normal children are better lip-readers than HI children of the matched age range.