Otology & Neurotology - ACIA: Papers from the 14th Symposium on Cochlear Implants in Children, Nashville, TN

Introduction to the 14th Symposium on Cochlear Implants in Children, Nashville, TN Papers No abstract available

Improving Spoken Language Outcomes for Children With Hearing Loss: Data-driven Instruction Objective: To assess the effects of data-driven instruction (DDI) on spoken language outcomes of children with cochlear implants and hearing aids. Study Design: Retrospective, matched-pairs comparison of post-treatment speech/language data of children who did and did not receive DDI. Setting: Private, spoken-language preschool for children with hearing loss. Subjects: Eleven matched pairs of children with cochlear implants who attended the same spoken language preschool. Groups were matched for age of hearing device fitting, time in the program, degree of predevice fitting hearing loss, sex, and age at testing. Intervention: Daily informal language samples were collected and analyzed over a 2-year period, per preschool protocol. Annual informal and formal spoken language assessments in articulation, vocabulary, and omnibus language were administered at the end of three time intervals: baseline, end of year one, and end of year two. Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome measures were total raw score performance of spontaneous utterance sentence types and syntax element use as measured by the Teacher Assessment of Spoken Language (TASL). In addition, standardized assessments (the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals—Preschool Version 2 (CELF-P2), the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT), the Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (ROWPVT), and the Goldman–Fristoe Test of Articulation 2 (GFTA2)) were also administered and compared with the control group. Results: The DDI group demonstrated significantly higher raw scores on the TASL each year of the study. The DDI group also achieved statistically significant higher scores for total language on the CELF-P and expressive vocabulary on the EOWPVT, but not for articulation nor receptive vocabulary. Post-hoc assessment revealed that 78% of the students in the DDI group achieved scores in the average range compared with 59% in the control group. Conclusion: The preliminary results of this study support further investigation regarding DDI to investigate whether this method can consistently and significantly improve the achievement of children with hearing loss in spoken language skills.

Speech Recognition of Bimodal Cochlear Implant Recipients Using a Wireless Audio Streaming Accessory for the Telephone Objective: The goals of the present investigation were (1) to evaluate recognition of recorded speech presented over a mobile telephone for a group of adult bimodal cochlear implant users, and (2) to measure the potential benefits of wireless hearing assistance technology (HAT) for mobile telephone speech recognition using bimodal stimulation (i.e., a cochlear implant in one ear and a hearing aid on the other ear). Study Design: A three-by-two-way repeated measures design was used to evaluate mobile telephone sentence-recognition performance differences obtained in quiet and in noise with and without the wireless HAT accessory coupled to the hearing aid alone, CI sound processor alone, and in the bimodal condition. Setting: Outpatient cochlear implant clinic. Subjects: Sixteen bimodal users with Nucleus 24, Freedom, CI512, or CI422 cochlear implants participated in this study. Intervention (s): Performance was measured with and without the use of a wireless HAT for the telephone used with the hearing aid alone, CI alone, and bimodal condition. Main Outcome Measure(s): CNC word recognition in quiet and in noise with and without the use of a wireless HAT telephone accessory in the hearing aid alone, CI alone, and bimodal conditions. Results: Results suggested that the bimodal condition gave significantly better speech recognition on the mobile telephone with the wireless HAT. Conclusions: A wireless HAT for the mobile telephone provides bimodal users with significant improvement in word recognition in quiet and in noise over the mobile telephone.

Cortical Plasticity and Reorganization in Pediatric Single-sided Deafness Pre- and Postcochlear Implantation: A Case Study Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to examine changes in cortical development and neuroplasticity in a child with single-sided deafness (SSD) before and after cochlear implantation (CI). Background: The extent to which sensory pathways reorganize in childhood SSD is not well understood and there is currently little evidence demonstrating the efficacy of CI in children with SSD. Methods: High-density 128-channel electroencephalography (EEG) was used to collect cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEP), cortical visual evoked potentials (CVEP), and cortical somatosensory evoked potentials (CSSEP) in a child with SSD, pre-CI and at subsequent sessions until approximately 3 years post-CI in her right ear which occurred at age 9.86 years. Behavioral correlates of speech perception and sound localization were also measured. Results: Pre-CI, high-density EEG showed evidence of delayed auditory cortical response morphology, auditory cortical development strongly contralateral (to the normal hearing ear), evidence of increased cognitive load, and cross-modal reorganization by the visual and somatosensory modalities. The post-CI developmental trajectory provided clear evidence of age-appropriate development of auditory cortical responses, and decreased cross-modal reorganization, consistent with improved speech perception and sound localization. Conclusion: Post-CI, the child demonstrated age-appropriate auditory cortical development and improved speech perception and sound localization suggestive of significant benefits from cochlear implantation. Reversal of somatosensory recruitment was clearly apparent, and only a residual amount of visual cross-modal plasticity remained postimplantation. Overall, our results suggest that CI in pediatric SSD patients may benefit from a highly plastic cortex in childhood.

Does Bilateral Experience Lead to Improved Spatial Unmasking of Speech in Children Who Use Bilateral Cochlear Implants? Hypothesis: In children with bilateral cochlear implants (BiCIs), experience over a 1 to 3-year period can improve speech understanding and spatial unmasking of speech. Background: One reason for providing children with BiCIs is to improve spatial hearing abilities. Little is known about changes in performance with added bilateral experience, and the relation between sound localization and spatial unmasking of speech. Methods: Twenty children with BiCIs participated. Testing was conducted typically within a year of bilateral activation, and at 1, 2, or 3 follow-up annual intervals. All testing was done while children listened with both devices activated. Target speech was presented from front (co-located); interfering speech was from front, right (asymmetrical), or right and left (symmetrical). Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were measured in each condition. Spatial release from masking (SRM) was quantified as the difference in SRTs between conditions with interferers at 0 degrees and 90 degrees. For 11 of the children, data are also compared with sound localization measures obtained on the same visit to the laboratory but published elsewhere. Results: Change in SRM with bilateral experience varied; some children showed improvement and others did not. Regression analyses identified relationships between SRTs and SRM. Comparison of the SRM with localization data suggests little evidence for correlations between the two spatial tasks. Conclusion: In children with BiCIs spatial hearing mechanisms involved in SRM and sound localization may be different. Reasons for reduced SRM include asymmetry between the ears, and individual differences in the ability to inhibit interfering information, switch and/or sustain attention.

Beyond Early Intervention: Supporting Children With CIs Through Elementary School Background: The development of cochlear implants (CIs) and the broader availability of early intervention, made possible by newborn hearing screening, have raised prospects that deaf children can be mainstreamed at the start of elementary school and fare well with minimal support. This report examines the veracity of that perspective. Methods: This report specifically: (1) reviews progress made by deaf children in spoken language acquisition over the past 25 years; (2) presents data collected from 104 children in the early elementary grades (49 with normal hearing (NH) and 55 with severe-to-profound hearing loss who use CIs); (3) describes language acquisition that typically occurs in elementary school; and (4) highlights intervention strategies for school-age deaf children with CIs. Results: The spoken language skills of deaf children have improved thanks to CIs and early intervention, but remain below those of children with NH. The amount of deficit varies across the language construct examined, with the greatest deficit found for skills dependent upon phonological (speech-sound) sensitivity, and the mildest associated with morphosyntactic (grammatical) skills. There is substantial development in both phonological and morphosyntactic skills that typically occurs during the elementary school years. Conclusion: Both the data and theoretical models of language acquisition indicate that even with the availability of CIs and early intervention, deaf children are behind their peers with NH when they enter school. And there is much language learning that lies ahead for them. Thus, there is a need for us to enhance our intervention with deaf children during the early elementary grades.

Speech Understanding in Children With Normal Hearing: Sound Field Normative Data for BabyBio, BKB-SIN, and QuickSIN Objective: The primary goal was to establish normative data for the Pediatric AzBio "BabyBio," QuickSIN, and BKB-SIN measures in the sound field for children with normal hearing. Setting: Tertiary care hospital; cochlear implant (CI) program. Patients: Forty-one children with normal hearing were recruited across four age groups (5–6, 7–8, 9–10, and 11–12 yr). Interventions: Sentence recognition testing was assessed at four different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs, +10, +5, 0, and −5 dB) for BabyBio sentences as well as for the BKB-SIN and QuickSIN tests. All measures were presented in the sound field at 60 dBA except QuickSIN, which was presented at 70 dBA. Main Outcome Measures: BabyBio sentence recognition, BKB-SIN SNR-50, and QuickSIN SNR-50 were analyzed to establish sound field norms. Results: BabyBio sentence recognition approached ceiling at all SNRs with mean scores ranging from 86% at −5 dB SNR to 99.3% at +10 dB SNR. Mean QuickSIN SNR-50 was 6.6 dB. Mean BKB-SIN SNR-50 was 1.6 dB with sound field data being consistent with insert earphone normative data in the BKB-SIN manual. Performance for all measures improved with age. Conclusion: Children with normal hearing achieve ceiling-level performance for BabyBio sentence recognition at SNRs used for clinical CI testing (≥0 dB SNR) and approach ceiling level even at −5 dB SNR. Consistent with previous reports, speech recognition in noise improved with age from 5 to 12 years in children with normal hearing. Thus, speech recognition in noise might also increase in the CI population across the same age range warranting age-specific norms for CI recipients. Last, the QuickSIN test could be substituted for the BKB-SIN test with appropriate age-normative data.

Language Development in the First Year of Life: What Deaf Children Might Be Missing Before Cochlear Implantation Objectives: Language development is a multifaceted, dynamic process involving the discovery of complex patterns, and the refinement of native language competencies in the context of communicative interactions. This process is already advanced by the end of the first year of life for hearing children, but prelingually deaf children who initially lack a language model may miss critical experiences during this early window. The purpose of this review is twofold. First, we examine the published literature on language development during the first 12 months in typically developing children. Second, we use this literature to inform our understanding of the language outcomes of prelingually deaf children who receive cochlear implants (CIs), and therefore language input, either before or after the first year. Conclusions: During the first 12 months, typically developing infants exhibit advances in speech segmentation, word learning, syntax acquisition, and communication, both verbal and nonverbal. Infants and their caregivers coconstruct a communication foundation during this time, supporting continued language growth. The language outcomes of hearing children are robustly predicted by their experiences and acquired competencies during the first year; yet these predictive links are absent among prelingually deaf infants lacking a language model (i.e., those without exposure to sign). For deaf infants who receive a CI, implantation timing is crucial. Children receiving CIs before 12 months frequently catch up with their typically developing peers, whereas those receiving CIs later do not. Explanations for the language difficulties of late-implanted children are discussed.

Initial Results With Image-guided Cochlear Implant Programming in Children Hypothesis: Image-guided cochlear implant (CI) programming can improve hearing outcomes for pediatric CI recipients. Background: CIs have been highly successful for children with severe-to-profound hearing loss, offering potential for mainstreamed education and auditory-oral communication. Despite this, a significant number of recipients still experience poor speech understanding, language delay, and, even among the best performers, restoration to normal auditory fidelity is rare. Although significant research efforts have been devoted to improving stimulation strategies, few developments have led to significant hearing improvement over the past two decades. Recently introduced techniques for image-guided CI programming (IGCIP) permit creating patient-customized CI programs by making it possible, for the first time, to estimate the position of implanted CI electrodes relative to the nerves they stimulate using CT images. This approach permits identification of electrodes with high levels of stimulation overlap and to deactivate them from a patient's map. Previous studies have shown that IGCIP can significantly improve hearing outcomes for adults with CIs. Methods: The IGCIP technique was tested for 21 ears of 18 pediatric CI recipients. Participants had long-term experience with their CI (5 mo to 13 yr) and ranged in age from 5 to 17 years old. Speech understanding was assessed after approximately 4 weeks of experience with the IGCIP map. Results: Using a two-tailed Wilcoxon signed-rank test, statistically significant improvement (p < 0.05) was observed for word and sentence recognition in quiet and noise, as well as pediatric self-reported quality-of-life (QOL) measures. Conclusion: Our results indicate that image guidance significantly improves hearing and QOL outcomes for pediatric CI recipients.

Method of Speech Stimulus Presentation Impacts Pediatric Speech Recognition: Monitored Live Voice Versus Recorded Speech Objective: To characterize the potential differences in speech understanding performance on word and sentence tests assessed using live voice and recorded speech measures for pediatric cochlear implant (CI) recipients. Study Design: This clinical study used a combination of retrospective and prospective study designs exploring within-subject performance for recorded versus monitored-live-voice presentation methods on pediatric word and sentence measures. Methods: Word and/or sentence recognition was obtained for 29 pediatric CI recipients using both recorded stimuli and monitored-live-voice (MLV) within a single-test session with a single experimenter for each session. The difference score was calculated for word and sentence measures allowing a comparison across conditions. Setting: Ambulatory. Patients: Pediatric patients aged 4 to 17 years. Intervention(s): Cochlear implants. Main Outcome Measure(s): Speech recognition testing. Results: There was a significant difference between recorded and MLV speech understanding with mean recorded word scores being 13-percentage points lower than those obtained via MLV. Conclusions: The results of this project suggest that the use of MLV for the assessment of speech perception in the pediatric Audiology clinic may overinflate children's performance and thereby runs the risk of failing to identify poorer or at-risk performance.

Alexandros Sfakianakis
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alsfakia@gmail.com