Most of the proposed research is predicated on work completed during the past five years on psychological variables in cochlear implants. Persons with acquired profound deafness manifest significant psychological and social problems. Multichannel implants seem to result in an alleviation of some of those problems. One focus of the present research is to assess long-term psychological consequences of cochlear implants and to establish the specific relationship between audiological improvement and psychological change. We have also shown that preimplant psychological variables are significant predictors of audiologic gain after 18 months of multichannel implant use. A second goal of the proposed research is to expand our understanding of cognitive variables in cochlear implant success and to determine whether the predictive utility of these variables is enhanced or reduced by optimizing the processing strategy used with a type of device. The optimistic results of implants with adults has resulted in cochlear implants being seriously considered for deaf children. The third major goal of the research is to determine whether cochlear implants have a significant influence on the broad range of psychological difficulties that prelingually deaf children experience. In addition, we will assess the utility of preimplant psychological variables in predicting the outcome of cochlear implants with children. One particularly important area of difficulty of deaf children is family interaction, with evidence suggesting that deaf children are at greater risk of physical punishment and abuse than hearing children. The proposed research will also determine the effects of cochlear implants on the discipline and family interactions of families of children receiving implants.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 247 publications
