In December, 1984, our interdisciplinary research team began a three-year prospective investigation into the question of early otitis media and its relation to hearing, speech, and language development. We are two years into data collection as we apply for renewal. We now describe foundations laid that address our primary and secondary goals. Without jeopardizing our original hypotheses, we propose two additional studies. Our study is designed not only to identify whether children with early experience with OME develop language delay, but also to identify and understand why a group of children with severe early OME develop language and speech normally. In two years of data collection, we have enrolled 422 infants: total number of contacts for these 422 is 4308, or an average of one contact every three weeks. One hundred thirty- nine children have been followed through the 18 month evaluation and 8 have passed their second birthday. Using both otoscopy and tympanometry, we have developed four ear codes to identify OME. We report data showing agreement between ear code and ABR as well as ear code and VRA. OM Indexes describe the child's experience with OM over time. Given that the subjects are still young, speech and language results are preliminary. Using a conservative measure for delay, we have identified 4% of the 12 months-olds and 9.5% of the 18 month olds as delayed. Based on an estimate of a 50% drop out rate over the five year continuation study, we project a total of 116 subjects who will be 7 years old and in the second grade at the conclusion; there will be 311 children over six years. We plan to extend our description of the relations among OME, speech and language development to include speech perception and early reading achievement. We have a unique opportunity to continue to follow these children on whom we have such careful documentation of OME and early speech and language development.
| Gunnarson, A D; Finitzo, T (1991) Conductive hearing loss during infancy: effects on later auditory brain stem electrophysiology. J Speech Hear Res 34:1207-15 |
