Tehran University of Medical Sciences Auditory and Vestibular Research 2423-480X 0 0 2026 02 22 1519 1519 Maryam Cheraghi Student Research Committee, School of Rehabilitation, Hamadan University of Medical Science, Hamadan, Iran Kowsar Baghban Hamadan University of Medical Sciences & Health Services Bahareh Rezaei Department of Speech Therapy, School of Rehabilitation, Hamadan University of Medical Science, Hamadan Maryam Farhadian Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Science, Hamadan Sogand Zarei - 2025 11 30 2026 02 21 Background & Aim: Hearing impairment in childrn can affect language acquisition and consequently lead to delays in speech and language skills. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between phonological working memory (PWM) and mean length of utterance (MLU) in normal and hearing-impaired Persian-speaking children. Methods: The study included 27 children with profound hearing loss (mean age = 5.42 ± 0.31 years) and 27 typically developing children (mean age = 5.62 ± 0.36 years), matched for age range (5–6 years) and gender (12 boys, 15girls). A nonword repetition task was used to assess PWM, and 50 utterances were selected from the obtained discourse samples to evaluate MLU. Results: The relationship between these two variables was compared across the two groups. A strong and significant correlation was found between PWM and MLU in children with profound hearing loss (HL). Additionally, the correlation in typically developing children was moderate and significant. Conclusion: A strong correlation between PWM and MLU was found in children with HL, whereas a moderate correlation was observed in typically developing children. These findings indicate the relevance of PWM to MLU in both groups, with a stronger association in children with hearing loss, without implying causality. https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/view/1519