[The effects of recurrent otitis media with effusion on speech development]

Abstract

Otitis media with effusion (OME) may have adverse effects on children's cognitive, language, speech and psychosocial development. This has been demonstrated using several lines of research, the results of which, however, are not unequivocal. The question of how OME can interact with language, speech and cognitive development is also a subject of debate. According to the acoustic-phonetic theory, reduced perceptual ability during episodes of OME results in a degraded representation of subphonemic features of speech sounds, leading to speech delay. The mediated theory holds that fluctuant hearing loss endangers diffuse cognitive-linguistic effects, affecting speech perception and production.