The Childhood Development after Cochlear Implantation (CDaCI) Study is a multisite, prospective investigation of a large and diverse cohort of US children with cochlear implants. Our primary objective is to evaluate the effect of variables that influence language learning after implantation. Success in spoken language depends on complex interactions between multiple domains of development. Thus, our aims are driven by hypotheses that relate variability in post-implant language outcome to environmental, social, interventional, and biological influences. A major challenge in childhood research relates to the reliable elicitation of communication and linguistic data. We address this task with hierarchical measures and videoanalytic techniques, recorded at fixed intervals, which allow us to track communicative skills as they emerge. We continue to build on this research experience to examine how language skills unfold in children participating in the study, evaluating their: 1) expressive and receptive language and academic achievement, 2) speech production, 3) speech recognition, 4) cognitive skills, 5) social interaction and behavior, 6) relationships with family members, and 7) health-related quality of life and related economic outcomes. CDaCI Study participants consist of children who received a cochlear implant (CI) before the age of 5 years (n=188) and a control group (n=97) of normal hearing (NH) age-mates. Average ages at enrollment were 2.2 years (CI) and 2.3 years (NH). Retention rates for ongoing data accrual are 85% for CI children and 84% for NH children, although all data collected over the past 8+ years have been included in published analyses. So, as CDaCI participants entered the study as preschoolers, they now embark on their middle school experience, entering high school over the next five years at current average ages of 11.0 (CI) and 10.8 (NH) years old. Despite wide recognition of the benefits of early cochlear implantation, there remains equipoise with respect to clinical, rehabilitative, and educational strategies that enable cochlear implant technology to be used to its fullest potential for language acquisition. Modifiers of linguistic outcome become even more compelling as children with cochlear implants face the communication and social demands of their early teens. This prospective, multidimensional study with concurrent controls offers prospects for novel, generalizable insights into the sources of variation in language learning and social and behavioral development after cochlear implantation, offering clinical guidelines to reduce low performance and variation in outcome.

Public Health Relevance

Young children with severe-to-profound hearing loss are candidates for a cochlear implant, and it is essential to understand how cochlear implants can produce consistent, optimized results with objective studies of performance outcomes. The longitudinal multisite study of Childhood Development after Cochlear Implantation measures the ability of US participants to learn to listen and speak after cochlear implantation, to interact wih their environment and with others, and to attain the experiences that contribute to quality of life In the continuation of this study we propose to investigate the factors in our participants'school experience and daily lives that affect their capacity to listen to others and to express themselves, identifying targets for further therapy to take implant technology to its fullest potential.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DC004797-12
Application #
8675826
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDC1)
Program Officer
Donahue, Amy
Project Start
2001-04-01
Project End
2018-05-31
Budget Start
2014-06-01
Budget End
2015-05-31
Support Year
12
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Southern California
Department
Otolaryngology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90089
Hoffman, Michael; Tiddens, Elena; Quittner, Alexandra L et al. (2018) Comparisons of visual attention in school-age children with cochlear implants versus hearing peers and normative data. Hear Res 359:91-100
Cejas, Ivette; Mitchell, Christine M; Hoffman, Michael et al. (2018) Comparisons of IQ in Children With and Without Cochlear Implants: Longitudinal Findings and Associations With Language. Ear Hear 39:1187-1198
Geers, Ann E; Mitchell, Christine M; Warner-Czyz, Andrea et al. (2017) Early Sign Language Exposure and Cochlear Implantation Benefits. Pediatrics 140:
Quittner, Alexandra L; Cejas, Ivette; Wang, Nae-Yuh et al. (2016) Symbolic Play and Novel Noun Learning in Deaf and Hearing Children: Longitudinal Effects of Access to Sound on Early Precursors of Language. PLoS One 11:e0155964
Eisenberg, Laurie S; Fisher, Laurel M; Johnson, Karen C et al. (2016) Sentence Recognition in Quiet and Noise by Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users: Relationships to Spoken Language. Otol Neurotol 37:e75-81
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Hoffman, Michael F; Cejas, Ivette; Quittner, Alexandra L et al. (2016) Comparisons of Longitudinal Trajectories of Social Competence: Parent Ratings of Children With Cochlear Implants Versus Hearing Peers. Otol Neurotol 37:152-9
Hoffman, Michael F; Quittner, Alexandra L; Cejas, Ivette (2015) Comparisons of social competence in young children with and without hearing loss: a dynamic systems framework. J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ 20:115-24
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Barnard, Jennifer M; Fisher, Laurel M; Johnson, Karen C et al. (2015) A Prospective Longitudinal Study of U.S. Children Unable to Achieve Open-Set Speech Recognition 5 Years After Cochlear Implantation. Otol Neurotol 36:985-92

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