The influence of oral language environment on auditory development

Abstract Objective The purpose of this study was to compare auditory processing of hearing children who were immersed in an oral language environment during early childhood with that of children who were poorly exposed to oral language during this period. Methods Sixty children, divided into two groups, aged between 5 to 10 years participated in this study. The Group 1 comprised of 30 children who had non-oralized deaf parents, and the Group 2 comprised of 30 children who had hearing parents. These children underwent the following behavioral processing tests: Pediatric Speech Intelligibility, Dichotic Digits, Pitch Pattern Sequence, Gaps-in-Noise, and Memory Tests for Instrumental and Verbal sounds. Results The performance of the Group 2 in all the applied tests was significantly better than that of the Group 1. In addition, a performance analysis by age group revealed that the differences observed between the groups were more pronounced in younger children (5-6 years). Conclusion The results indicate that the development of auditory skills is strongly influenced by listening to oral linguistic sounds. Thus, a child's exposure to an oral language environment from birth is relevant for the adequate development of the functions of the auditory system.