Early acoustic hearing and spoken language skills of children with cochlear implants

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2017-05, Vol.141 (5), p.3508-3508
• Main Authors: Uchanski, Rosalie M., Davidson, Lisa S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4987354

Development of spoken language is difficult for children born with hearing loss. While most clinicians agree on the goal of improving the audibility of spoken language as early as possible, there is less agreement on the types of devices (bilateral cochlear implants vs. bilateral hearing aids vs. one hearing aid with one cochlear implant) they would recommend to achieve improved audibility. Additionally, acoustic properties of speech are conveyed differently by hearings aids (HAs) and cochlear implants (CIs); voice-pitch and prosodic properties, assumed critical for learning words from continuous speech, are conveyed better with HAs than CIs while broad spectral properties of individual speech segments are conveyed better with CIs than HAs. The relation between a simple model of a child’s early (birth to ~3 years old) acoustic hearing experience (includes HA use, CI surgery dates, severity of hearing loss, etc.) and eventual spoken language skills (tested at later ages of 8-10 years old) will be examined, especially in the context of which devices might be best for spoken language development. This examination reflects Dr. Louis Braida’s long-standing interest in understanding the acoustic properties of speech and its perception, especially for the benefit of those with hearing loss.