Working memory in deaf children with cochlear implants: correlations between digit span and measures of spoken language processing.

This correlational study investigated the role of working memory in speech intelligibility, speech intelligibility, language processing and reading in a group of 43 prelingually deaf children with cochlear implants. Using the digit span subtests of the WISC as a measure of working memory capacity, moderate to high correlations were obtained between forward auditory digit span and each of the four outcome measures. The overall pattern of correlations with digit span suggests the presence of a common underlying source of variance that is associated with the encoding, rehearsal, storage and retrieval of phonological representations of spoken words. Differences on these outcome measures may reflect differences in the speed and efficiency of encoding and rehearsal processes used in spoken language processing tasks.