OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate the development of auditory skills in Mandarin-speaking children with normal hearing using CAP-II, and to establish the baseline data for evaluating the auditory performance of children with hearing loss on which designs of appropriate hearing rehabilitation programs can be based.
METHODS: A total of 223 children participated in this study of which 200 children aged from 1 to 60 months were finally included. Their normal hearing was confirmed by examination of hearing history and high-risk registers for hearing loss, as well as by hearing screening. All children were divided into 10 groups with 20 children in each group based on age. The CAP-II scale was administered to evaluate their development of auditory skills.
RESULTS: The categories of auditory performance scores of children with normal hearing improved with their age, the best-fit regression function for prediction of scores from age was Score = 0.94 × ln(age) + 0.08 × (age) + 1.16 and prediction of age from score was Age = 0.65 × (score)2-0.14 × (score)-0.23. The overall CAP-II scale exhibited good reliability and validity.
CONCLUSIONS: and Significance: An improvement in auditory skill with age in children with normal hearing was observed. Ceiling performance in auditory skills was found at the age of 51 months for normal children. A conversion table between age and scores obtained from the data of this study can be used as a reference for the assessment of clinical hearing ability in children.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this longitudinal follow-up study was to explore the trajectories of early auditory and language development in Mandarin speaking children younger than 3 years of age following switch-on of their cochlear implants (CIs).
METHODS: Early auditory and language development was measured longitudinally using the Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS), which is a commonly used tool for assessing early prelingual auditory development (EPLAD) in children, and the subtest (Words and Gestures, W&G) of the simplified short form version of the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventory (SSF-MCDI) to assess receptive and expressive vocabulary growths of children in 24 pediatric cochlea implant recipients at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months following switch-on. Age at switch-on ranged from 1 to 3 years of age. Participants were divided into two groups based on age at switch-on. The IT-MAIS and SSF-MCDI (W&G) scores were analyzed with comparison to normal children, unaided hearing-impaired children, and CI children.
RESULTS: Significant improvements in IT-MAIS and SSF-MCDI (W&G) scores from baseline to 12 months were seen after switch-on in both CI groups and were comparable to the normal hearing children in the first year of age. The IT-MAIS scores of CI children in both groups at 12 months after switch-on surpassed the average level of unaided peers with profound hearing loss and were similar to the average level of unaided peers with mild hearing loss. SSF-MCDI (W&G) scores in word comprehension and expression were significantly different between groups at some intervals.
CONCLUSIONS: Children younger than 3 years of age with cochlear implants have similar trajectories in early auditory and language developments to normally hearing children. Moreover, early implantation is an important factor for the early auditory development when comparing EPLAD results between CI children and unaided peers with different hearing loss. Finally, it is noteworthy that CI children master the skill of word comprehension before the skill of word expression, and that word comprehension may be the basis of word expression.

Objective: To externally validate the Swedish version of the LittlEARS® Auditory Questionnaire (LEAQ) in children with normal hearing followed longitudinally, and to examine to what extent the LEAQ correlates to other measures of auditory and language development. Design: The Swedish version of the LEAQ was completed every other month over a 2-year period and correlated with the Parents\' Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children (PEACH) and McArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) to examine overlapping areas of development. Normative curve was derived through linear mixed models and the effect of time investigated with repeated measures ANOVA. Study sample: Parents of 25 typically developing children with normal hearing (13 girls, 12 boys). Results: The norm curve of the Swedish LEAQ showed a similar equation as the original German version and the effect of time was significant. Correlations between LEAQ and CDI were moderate to high, and between LEAQ and PEACH weak or non-existing. Conclusion: The Swedish version of the LEAQ is a reliable tool in accordance with the original version. However, results indicate that this questionnaire to a large extent measures language skill rather than audition specifically.