Phonological Short term memory in deaf children fitted with a cochlear implant: effects of phonological similarity, word lenght and lipreading cues

Phonological short-term memory (pSTM), or the ability to hold information in mind for a few seconds, is investigated in deaf children fitted with a cochlear implant (CI children) before the age of 3 years, in the framework of Baddeley’s model. Results show that, compared to their age-matched hearing controls, CI children are delayed in the development of their pSTM capacity, and exhibit reduced effect of phonological similarity (PSE) and word length (WLE). However, when CI children are matched for pSTM capacity with younger NH children, the difference regarding PSE and WLE disappear. The CI children do not produce more order errors than NH children. Taken together, the results indicate normal resources of functioning of pSTM. The reasons for the shorter pSTM span in CI children are discussed.

from Revista de Logopedia, Foniatría y Audiología

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