Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children born to hearing parents have profound theory-of-mind (ToM) delays, yet little is known about how providing hearing assistance early in life, through cochlear implants and hearing aids, influences their ToM development. We thus addressed (a) whether young DHH children with early hearing provision developed ToM differently than older children did in previous research and (b) what ToM understandings characterize this understudied population. Findings from 84 three- to six-year-old DHH children primarily acquiring spoken language demonstrated that accumulated hearing experience influenced their ToM, as measured by a five-step ToM scale. Moreover, language abilities mediated this developmental relationship: Children with more advanced language abilities, because of more time using cochlear implants and hearing aids, had better ToM growth. These findings demonstrate the crucial relationships among hearing, language, and ToM for DHH children acquiring spoken language, thereby addressing theoretical and practical questions about ToM development.

中文翻译：

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有早期听力设备的年幼失聪儿童的心理理论发展

听力正常的父母所生的失聪和听力障碍 (DHH) 孩子有严重的心智理论 (ToM) 延迟，但对于在生命早期通过人工耳蜗和助听器提供助听器如何影响他们的心智理论 (ToM)，我们知之甚少发展。因此，我们解决了（a）早期听力提供的年轻 DHH 儿童是否发展 ToM 与之前研究中年长儿童所做的不同，以及（b）对 ToM 的理解是这个未被充分研究的人群的特征。84 名 3 至 6 岁 DHH 儿童主要获得口语的研究结果表明，积累的听力经验影响了他们的 ToM，采用五步 ToM 量表来衡量。此外，语言能力介导了这种发展关系：语言能力更高的儿童，因为更多的时间使用人工耳蜗和助听器，有更好的 ToM 增长。这些发现证明了听力、语言和 ToM 之间对于 DHH 儿童获得口语的关键关系，从而解决了有关 ToM 发展的理论和实践问题。