Peer Relationships of Children With Cochlear Implants

A recent issue of Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education examines Peer Relationships of Children With Cochlear Implants.

Psychological Status and Speech Perception Outcomes in Adolescent Cochlear Implant Users

A study conducted at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey found that:

The majority of adolescents, in this study, achieved varying degrees of open-set speech recognition and made greater gains than their previous auditory experience with hearing aids. Also, the indirect positive effects of early identification-amplification, communication therapy and counseling programs on their personal well-being is clearly observed from the outcomes of their state and trait anxiety scores. As a result of correlating the trait and state anxiety levels with pre- and post-implant speech perception skills, a significant negative correlation was expected. However, no statistical correlation was found between speech perception skills and the psychological outcomes. This result may be the indicator of the positive effect of the early habilitation-parental support and cochlear implant on the quality of life as the adolescents involved in this study were developmentally and audiologically ready for implantation.

Phonological Awareness, Vocabulary, and Word Reading in Children With Cochlear Implants

A recent issue of The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education includes an article on the phonological awareness, vocabulary and word reading abilities of cochlear implanted children.

The phonological awareness, vocabulary, and word reading abilities of 19 children with cochlear implants were assessed. Nine children had an implant early and 10 had an implant later. As a group, the children fitted early had better performance outcomes on PA, vocabulary, and reading compared to hearing benchmark groups.

Bone Anchored Cochlear Stimulator

Dr. Sam Marzo of Loyola University Medical Center surgically implanted a bone-anchored cochlear stimulator that delivers sound to the inner ear by bone conduction.

"People unable to hear as a result of chronic ear inflammation or drainage can benefit from this new therapy," said Marzo, who also serves as program director of the Hearing and Balance Center at Loyola's Oakbrook Terrace Medical Center, One South Summit Ave, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. "The device will work for people who do not have a functioning ear canal."

Michael Chorost on Laser Based Implants

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"As part of a project funded by the National Institute for Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), Claus-Peter Richter and his colleagues at Northwestern have demonstrated that they can control firing rates in the auditory nerve of animals using infrared laser radiation."

Docuweek Question and Answer with Irene Brodsky

Docuweek Question and Answer with Irene Taylor Brodsky, director of Hear and Now.

Q: What inspired you to make Hear and Now?

ITB: After being deaf for 65 years, my parents always told me they "didn't have time to learn to hear." So, it never occurred to me that they would actually try out cochlear implants. When they told me--20 years after the device was first invented--that they wanted to give sound a go, I knew it would be an epic experiment. I made the film to figure out their intentions as much as to document them.

Iowa Study on Localization Ability in Adult Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users

A University of Iowa study concludes that sequential bilateral implants can be beneficial even after many years of monaural use and even with very different cochlear implants. Speech perception and localization with adults with bilateral sequential cochlear implants.