Table 2. Mean (SD) participant characteristics for the four subgroups (MM-Y, MM-YO, NH-O and MM-O; longitudinal study).
| Younger (Y) | Older (O) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | MM-Y (n = 13) | MM-YO (n = 13) | NH-O (n = 18) | MM-O (n = 23) |
| Demographics | ||||
| Age (years) | 9.5 (1.3)a | 14.8 (1.4)b | 13.6 (1.2)c | 13.2 (1.0)c |
| Nonverbal IQ (T score) | 59.6 (10.2) | - | 61.0 (5.8) | 53.0 (7.5) |
| Maternal education (years) | 19.2 (2.8) | 19.2 (2.8) | 20.6 (3.6) | 19.3 (2.7) |
| Audiometry | ||||
| BEPTA threshold (dB HL) | 40.1 (9.0)a | 35.7 (9.0)a | 6.9 (4.3)b | 42.6 (13.3)a |
| WEPTA threshold (dB HL) | 49.8 (14.1)a | 49.8 (18.2)a | 9.8 (4.4)b | 46.5 (13.0)a |
| MePTA threshold (dB HL)b | 46.7 (9.3)a | 44.9 (11.4)a | 8.8 (4.5)b | 45.5 (12.4)a |
| Hearing loss history | ||||
| Age of detection (months) | 50.6 (23.6) | - | - | 59.0 (44.1) |
| Hearing aids (n; %) | 13; 100% | - | - | 18; 78.2% |
| Age of aiding (months) | 63.6 (23.2) | - | - | 69.6 (56.3) |
Note. MM = mild-to-moderate SNHL group; Y = younger; MM-YO = children from the MM-Y subgroup from the cross-sectional study (Time 1) who were followed-up as part of the longitudinal study (Time 2). NH = normally hearing control group; O = older; Age = mean of session 1 and session 2 (years); Nonverbal IQ = T score on Block Design subtest of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (Wechsler, 1999); Maternal education = age (years) at which mother left full-time education; BEPTA = better-ear pure-tone average across octave frequencies 0.25–4 kHz; WEPTA = worse-ear pure-tone average across octave frequencies 0.25–4 kHz; MePTA = Mean PTA across octave frequencies 0.25–8 kHz for left and right ears; Age of detection: age (months) at which SNHL was detected (MM subgroups only); Age of aiding = age (months) at which hearing aids were first fitted. Subgroups that differed significantly from one another on a given variable are denoted by a, b and c (see Longitudinal study, Participants).