Dual-task speech-in-noise performance in children with unilateral cleft lip and palate and minimal conductive hearing loss


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Başoğlu Y., Hürriyetoğlu R., Başoğlu İ.

EUROPEAN ARCHIVES OF OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGY, cilt.1, sa.1, ss.1-11, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 1 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s00405-026-10395-6
  • Dergi Adı: EUROPEAN ARCHIVES OF OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGY
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Biomedical Reference Collection: Corporate Edition (EBSCO), Health Research Premium Collection (ProQuest), Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), BIOSIS, EMBASE, MEDLINE
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-11
  • Açık Arşiv Koleksiyonu: AVESİS Açık Erişim Koleksiyonu
  • İstanbul Medipol Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Purpose

Children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) frequently experience middle-ear dysfunction and conductive hearing loss, which may affect functional listening in noise. This study examined speech-in-noise recognition and visual-task latency cost during concurrent auditory–visual task performance in children with unilateral CLP and minimal conductive hearing loss.

Methods

Twenty-five children with unilateral CLP and minimal conductive hearing loss and 28 age-matched typically developing controls, aged 7–15 years, completed audiological assessment, a single-task speech-in-noise condition (SIN), a concurrent auditory–visual condition combining speech recognition in noise with a randomized visual saccade task (SIN-WS), and a saccade-only condition. Word recognition accuracy and mean saccadic latency were recorded. Articulation was assessed in the CLP group using a standardized cleft speech assessment.

Results

Children with CLP showed poorer word recognition accuracy than controls in both SIN and SIN-WS conditions. Model-based analysis showed significant main effects of group and condition, whereas the Group × Condition interaction for word recognition was not significant. Mean saccadic latency increased during the concurrent-task condition in both groups, with a significantly greater increase in the CLP group. Within the CLP group, higher articulation error counts were associated with poorer word recognition accuracy and greater saccadic-latency cost.

Conclusion

Children with unilateral CLP and minimal conductive hearing loss showed reduced speech-in-noise recognition and greater visual-task latency cost during concurrent auditory–visual task performance. These findings support the clinical value of assessing functional listening beyond isolated auditory thresholds in children with CLP.