Alonso, M. F. 1 , Uclés, P. . 2 & Saz, P. 1
1 Universidad de Zaragoza
2 Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet
Purpose: The purpose of this study is clarifying the effects of the right otitis media, during the first three years of age, in language development. Methods: A study by middle-latency evoked potentials was carried out to observe the correlation between the outcome of right otitis media history and language disorders. We tested two groups of children, both between the age of 3 and 6.11 years old. The first group had a history of right otitis media in the earliest years of life (n=12) and the second group had history of left otitis media, had not suffered from otitis or they had good progress (n=17). Several battery tests of language were employed to assess the children's language abilities and the middle-latency evoked potentials to establish if plastic changes have occurred after prolonged periods of hearing loss. Results: The fact of being a case is related with lower scores in phonetic, phonological and morpho-syntax tasks. There is a correlation between the phonetic and phonological system with the of auditory brainstem evoked response and with the energy of the middle latency response. Conclusion: The right otitis media in the early childhood may influence the language development, especially in the expressive aspect.