Relationship between audiological and phonological awareness findings in a group of children with cleft lip and / or palate

Abstract

Introduction: Children with hearing loss may present speech impairment, consequently disadvantages in the development of language skills, such as phonological awareness. Individuals with cleft lip and / or palate are predisposed to hearing loss and difficulties in phonological awareness; however, there are few studies that demonstrate correlation of this interrelation. Objective: Analyze the audiological and phonological awareness findings in a group of children with cleft lip and palate. Methods: Observational cross-sectional study approved by the Ethical Committee in Research under the number 1.974.629, held with a group of 36 children. Inclusion criteria: children with cleft lip and / or palate aged between 4 and 12 years, of both genders, without a diagnosis of associated syndromes. To investigate the history of otitis media, a reminder was applied to those responsible for the children. The Sequential Evaluation Instrument – CONFIAS was used to analyze phonological awareness. To verify the auditory acuity, the children performed the pure tone audiometry. Results: The sample consisted of 13 children, aged between 4 and 8 years. All of them presented losses in the CONFIAS scores, 92.3% in the syllable level and 84.6% in the phoneme level. It was found that 69.2% had a history of otitis media. In audiometry, 77% presented conductive hearing loss. There was no correlation between phonological awareness and auditory findings. Conclusion: Children with cleft lip and palate presented phonological awareness difficulties, even though there was no correlation with the audiological findings, the hypothesis of an interrelationship between the variables.