Ear health, binaural processing, and phonological awareness in urban Australian First Nations and non-First Nations primary-school children

While early poor ear health is known to affect later overall health and educational outcomes for children, little is known about the simultaneous influence of ear health, binaural processing, and phonological awareness. There is also limited research into the ear health of urban-residing First Nations children of primary school age. This study extends the work of [Sharma, M., Darke, A., Wigglesworth, G., & Demuth, K. (2020) Dichotic listening is associated with phonological awareness in Australian aboriginal children with otitis media: A remote community-based study. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2020.110398], collecting ear health, binaural processing, and phonological awareness data from 182 urban-residing children aged 4–7 years. Children attended one of eight urban government primary schools in lower quintile socio-economic areas. Analysis investigated differences in middle ear health on the day between First Nations and non-First Nations children, and compared binaural processing with phonological awareness scores. Significant differences were found, with First Nations children experiencing a higher prevalence of middle ear disorder and poorer phonological awareness performance on the day of testing. Although binaural processing scores were similar between groups, a moderate but significant correlation between binaural processing and phonological awareness was shown for First Nations children. Results are discussed in relation to the use of aggregated geographical-based measures of socio-economic status (SES). It is suggested that the social determinants that influence social disadvantage at an individual or community level, may better explain disparities in ear health and phonological awareness. Our findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions aimed at improving First Nations children’s ear health and phonological awareness skills.