Preschool screening: Relations among audiometric and developmental measures

Abstract

We report the relationship between measures of hearing and emerging developmental processes, especially language acquisition, in two samples ( N = 144, N = 147) of preschool (3–5 years of age) children. Children participating in the study attended one of four urban day-care centers and were screened for developmental delays as one component of an outreach program sponsored by a local community health center. Children were assigned pass/fail (P/F) status on a locally developed preschool screening instrument, measuring cognitive, linguistic, and social-behavioral development. Students also were assigned pass/fail status on two measures of hearing, pure tone audiometry, and impedance testing. Log-linear modeling of relations among developmental subtests and hearing for both samples suggested that delayed language acquistion was related to the presence of mild hearing loss for all ages in the sample. Classification with respect to language (P/F) was associated in turn with levels (P/F) of cognitive and social development. Consideration of socioeconomic status (SES) in a pooled sample suggested moderation of the interaction between levels of social development and language acquisition by SES.