Nonword Repetition Accuracy of Children with Bilateral Cochlear Implants: Effects of Age and Vocabulary Size

Within the population of children with profound hearing loss, children who use cochlear implants (CIs) have much better speech and language development than children who use hearing aids. However, CI users still perform more poorly than children with normal hearing (NH). Few studies have examined nonword repetition accuracy in children with CIs, although this measure is important because of its relationship to vocabulary development. This study analyzes initial consonant accuracy in real words and nonwords for 18 children with bilateral CIs between age 4;0 and 9;2 and for two comparison groups of children with NH. The accuracy of word-initial singletons /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ and word-initial clusters /tw/, /kw/, and /kj/ in real words and nonwords were examined. Results indicate that consonant production in children with CIs is comparable to their hearing age peers with NH in many respects. However, consonant accuracy in real words and nonwords was not correlated with vocabulary size in children with CIs, although this correlation was observed for children with NH. These results will be discussed with respect to word learning in children with CIs.