Speech impairment in preterm infants

Introduction:

Speech impairment is defined as delayed onset and faulty speaking, in otherwise healthy children. The prevalence is 5 – 8%. Prematurity presents an increased risk for cognitive developmental disorders including speech impairment.

Methods:

The hearing and the speech development of preterm infants treated in the department of Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology were retropectively evaluated. Newborn hearing screening, hearing diagnostics were done at the age of 6 – 18 months and at 3 years of age. Speech evaluation tests at the age of 3 years were recorded.

Results:

Hearing diagnostics at the age of 6 – 18 months showed that 32% of the infants had conductive hearing loss (CHL) and 4% sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). At the age of 3 years, 26% had CHL and 6% SNHL. 48% of the children had developed speech impairment at 3 years of age. We found an association between SNHL aged 6 to 18 months and speech impairment at 3 years. However the majority of children with SNHL had syndromal disease. An increased speech impairment was not found among infants with CHL at the age of 6 – 18 months. Other risk factors for speech impairment included birth weight < 1500 g, hyperbilirubinemia, sepsis, duration of intubation, gastrointestinal complaints, feeding problems, male gender and syndromal disease.

Conclusion:

Apart from hearing impairment, factors of general development and the presence of a syndromic disease were identified as risk factors for speech impairment.

Publication History

Publication Date:
18 April 2018 (online)