Speech addressed to hearing-impaired children by their mothers

Abstract

In this cross-sectional study, some characteristics of the maternal language of a large group of hearing-impaired children are described (n = 74). The children had mean bilateral sensori-neural hearing loss of 25-123 dB HL in the better ear; they were monolingual, suffered no additional handicaps, and at the time of the study were aged 3-7 years old. The language data reported here were obtained by transcribing video-recorded play sessions. Both quantitative and syntactic analyses were applied to the maternal language. The aims of the study were: (1) to describe the distribution of the measures; (2) to establish whether any relationships exist between the children's characteristics (language level, degree of hearing loss, social class, IQ) on the one hand and the type of language used by the mother on the other; and (3) to draw comparisons with maternal language to hearing children. The implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for further investigation are given.