Is There a Relationship Between Infant and Toddler Speech Discrimination Abilities and Mean Length of Utterance at 33 Months?

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among speech discrimination at 9 months of age, word recognition at 30 months of age, and mean length of utterance in morphemes (MLUm) at 33 months of age among children who are hard of hearing (CHH) and children with normal hearing...

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Published in:Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research Vol. 69; no. 3; pp. 1230 - 1249
Main Authors: Uhler, Kristin M., Shah, Jinal, Gilley, Phillip M., Kaizer, Alex, Hunnicutt, Cynthia, Madrid, Angela, Warner-Czyz, Andrea D.
Format: Article
Published: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Mar2026
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Mar2026
      vid: 69
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      pub: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
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        10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00719
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        atl: Is There a Relationship Between Infant and Toddler Speech Discrimination Abilities and Mean Length of Utterance at 33 Months?
      aug:
        au:
          Uhler, Kristin M.
          Shah, Jinal
          Gilley, Phillip M.
          Kaizer, Alex
          Hunnicutt, Cynthia
          Madrid, Angela
          Warner-Czyz, Andrea D.
        affil:
          Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora
          Department of Biostatistics and Informatics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora
          Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder
          Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing, University of Colorado Boulder
          Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson
          Callier Center for Communication Disorders, Dallas, TX
      su:
        Mental health
        Mothers
        Communication
        Sociodemographic factors
        Hearing
        Social classes
        Educational attainment
        Children
        Vowels
        Pearson correlation (Statistics)
        Grammar
        Research funding
        Hearing aids
        Consonants
        Fisher exact test
        Descriptive statistics
        Mann Whitney U Test
        Chi-squared test
        Longitudinal method
        Mean length of utterance
        Statistics
        Speech perception
        Hearing disorders
        Regression analysis
      sug:
        subj:
          Mental health
          Mothers
          Communication
          Sociodemographic factors
          Hearing
          Social classes
          Educational attainment
          Children
          Medical, Dental, and Hospital Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
          Electromedical and Electrotherapeutic Apparatus Manufacturing
          Professional machinery, equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers
          All Other Health and Personal Care Stores
          Offices of Mental Health Practitioners (except Physicians)
          Vowels
          Pearson correlation (Statistics)
          Grammar
          Research funding
          Hearing aids
          Consonants
          Fisher exact test
          Descriptive statistics
          Mann Whitney U Test
          Chi-squared test
          Longitudinal method
          Mean length of utterance
          Statistics
          Speech perception
          Hearing disorders
          Regression analysis
      ab: Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among speech discrimination at 9 months of age, word recognition at 30 months of age, and mean length of utterance in morphemes (MLUm) at 33 months of age among children who are hard of hearing (CHH) and children with normal hearing (CNH). This study also explored early sociodemographic and audiological variables that may influence communication outcomes in CHH and CNH. Method: Participants included 18 CNH and 32 CHH with early and well-fit hearing aids (HAs). Measures included speech discrimination in response to vowel and consonant stimuli at 9 months, word recognition at 30 months, and a spontaneous language sample at 33 months. Results: Group-level differences were not observed in speech discrimination or word recognition but emerged for language outcomes. Specifically for language outcomes, CHH had shorter MLUms and produced fewer mental state verbs than CNH. Vowel discrimination and word recognition were related to each other, and word recognition was related to MLUm. Consonant discrimination did not relate to any other variables. Higher MLUm was related to maternal level of education, hearing status, and daily device use. Additionally, daily device use at both 9 and 30 months correlated with word recognition at 30 months. Conclusions: Early auditory measures (speech discrimination and daily device use) relate to later speech recognition and MLUm in young children wearing well-fit HAs. Clinicians should consider these early metrics, as well as spontaneous language samples to capture real-world conversational skills, to identify young CHH at risk for poorer language outcomes. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.31212223
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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