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The Effect Of Otitis Media On Articulation In Expressive Language-Delayed Children, Marla Lohr-Flanders

Dissertations and Theses

Researchers have long been concerned with the effects of otitis media on speech and language acquisition because of the high correlation of a mild to moderate hearing loss during the time period that fluid (effusion) may be in the middle ear. Middle-ear effusion would prevent many of the auditory messages from accurately reaching the nervous system (Zinkus, 1986). Deprived of the ability to discern the subtle acoustic differences that provide information for phonetic contrasts, a child's speech acquisition may differ from children who do not experience such losses.

The present study examined the relationship between an early history of otitis …