Recent reductions in age requirements for cochlear implantation (currently FDA-approved at 12 months) have made it possible for deaf infants and toddlers to begin to hear at ages when many foundational speech skills are normally acquired. Thus, receiving a cochlear implant (Cl) at a young age may lead to a more typical trajectories for speech development and, ultimately, closer to normal levels of speech intelligibility than observed for children implanted at older ages. To date, however, very little is known about how very young Cl recipients become talkers. The principal objective of this revised research proposal is to obtain a better understanding of the effects of Cl experience on speech development in children implanted by their third birthdays.
The specific aims of the study will be met by analyzing the emergence of key speech behaviors such as intonation control, vocal development, phonetic expansion, and spoken vocabulary. Phonological abilities at 2 years post-implant activation will also be measured. Data from children with CIs will be compared to that of infants and toddlers who have normal hearing so that the efficiency of post- implantation speech learning can be assessed. In addition, the effects of age-at-implantation on speech development will also be examined. Current clinical practices for infants and toddlers-both the implant decision-making process and communication intervention planning-are not guided by research regarding the effects of implantation on early speech development. The findings of this project will help to inform the cochlear implant decision making process regarding an optimal age-range for implantation, will provide empirical data for assessing the adequacy of post-implantation speech learning, and will be useful in selecting developmentally appropriate intervention goals for young Cl recipients. The objectives of this study will be met through between group comparisons (e.g., NH vs. Cl groups, and younger vs. older age-at-implantation groups) and through a prospective longitudinal design that includes parent-child interactions, parent reports, and elicited speech samples. This investigation examines speech development in deaf children who receive cochlear implants before their third birthdays. Comparisons with typically developing toddlers and among children implanted at different ages are undertaken through a prospective longitudinal research design. ? ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DC007863-03
Application #
7455304
Study Section
Language and Communication Study Section (LCOM)
Program Officer
Shekim, Lana O
Project Start
2006-07-01
Project End
2011-06-30
Budget Start
2008-07-01
Budget End
2009-06-30
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2008
Total Cost
$358,113
Indirect Cost
Name
Purdue University
Department
Other Health Professions
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
072051394
City
West Lafayette
State
IN
Country
United States
Zip Code
47907
Jung, Jongmin; Ertmer, David J (2018) Grammatical Abilities in Young Cochlear Implant Recipients and Children With Normal Hearing Matched by Vocabulary Size. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 27:751-764
Iyer, Suneeti Nathani; Jung, Jongmin; Ertmer, David J (2017) Consonant Acquisition in Young Cochlear Implant Recipients and Their Typically Developing Peers. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 26:413-427
Snow, David P; Ertmer, David J (2013) The development of falling intonation in young children with cochlear implants: a 2-year longitudinal study. Clin Linguist Phon 27:447-58
Ertmer, David J; Jung, Jongmin; Kloiber, Diana True (2013) Beginning to talk like an adult: increases in speech-like utterances in young cochlear implant recipients and typically developing children. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 22:591-603
Ertmer, David J; Jung, Jongmin (2012) Monitoring progress in vocal development in young cochlear implant recipients: relationships between speech samples and scores from the Conditioned Assessment of Speech Production (CASP). Am J Speech Lang Pathol 21:313-28
Snow, David P; Ertmer, David J (2012) Children's development of intonation during the first year of cochlear implant experience. Clin Linguist Phon 26:51-70
Ertmer, David J; Jung, Jongmin (2012) Prelinguistic vocal development in young cochlear implant recipients and typically developing infants: year 1 of robust hearing experience. J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ 17:116-32
Ertmer, David J; Kloiber, Diana True; Jung, Jongmin et al. (2012) Consonant production accuracy in young cochlear implant recipients: developmental sound classes and word position effects. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 21:342-53
Ertmer, David J (2011) Assessing speech intelligibility in children with hearing loss: toward revitalizing a valuable clinical tool. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch 42:52-8
Ertmer, David J; Goffman, Lisa (2011) Speech production accuracy and variability in young cochlear implant recipients: comparisons with typically developing age-peers. J Speech Lang Hear Res 54:177-89

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