This article discusses findings from the first 10 years of the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment (LOCHI) Study, which includes more than 450 deaf and hard of hearing Australian children whose hearing losses were identified variously through newborn hearing screening or later paths to confirmation and intervention.

Cochlear implants (CIs) have revolutionized the field of audiology, providing a life-changing solution for children with bilateral profound hearing loss. Expanding criteria has allowed children with significant unilateral hearing loss (UHL) to benefit from this technology as well. The practice is not without controversy, however. While we have…

This case study analyzes and describes the language, executive function, and psychosocial outcomes of two 6-year-old children with cochlear implants in the context of their respective family environments. Despite having nearly identical audiological histories, their language abilities and social skills are markedly different from one another,…

Sound levels and acoustic characteristic information was obtained in classrooms serving children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) in grades K-2 in a variety of settings across the United States and Canada. Sound levels were easily measured using iPads, and acoustic characteristics were documented. Noise levels exceeded the American National…

A study involving 32 adult persons who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) and successful in their jobs explored the key factors for their success. The results revealed that, in particular, social and personal competencies (soft skills) are important. These soft skills include self-confidence, patience, interest, motivation, ability to communicate,…

Purpose: To document the emergence of utterance length measured in both words and morphemes in children with severe and/or profound hearing loss who received cochlear implants by age 3. Method: A set of 49 conversational speech samples were evoked from 10 children (8 females, 2 males) with cochlear implants and transcribed and analyzed using SALT…

The objective of this study was to investigate the perceptual relevance of acoustic differences in vowels produced by 6 children between the ages of 9-13 years old with unilateral cochlear implants. Formant frequencies were estimated for 12 repetitions of vowels /hid/, /hed/, /haed/, /hud/, /hUd/, and /hAd/ produced by the children. The estimated…

This study examined the association between parenting stress, family functioning, child behavior problems, language development, mother's education, child's sex, child's age, and child's hearing device in a cross-sectional sample of 37 mothers with typical hearing who have children who are deaf and hard of hearing enrolled in early childhood…

Children with significant hearing loss may experience great difficulty developing spoken language and literacy skills to a level commensurate with children of the same age with typical hearing. While studies of children who use cochlear implants show improved spoken language outcomes in some cases, when compared to the same children's earlier use…

These are the proceedings of 2012 AG Bell Research Symposium, presented July 1, 2012, as part of the AG Bell 2012 Convention. The session was moderated by Tamala S. Bradham, Ph.D., CCC-A. The papers presented at the proceedings are the following: (1) The Queens of Audition; (2) Speech Perception and Hearing Loss; (3) The Restoration of Speech…

The purpose of this study is to show the changing trends within the population of children who are deaf and hard of hearing in Belgium over the last 12 years. The combination of Universal Newborn Hearing Screening programs, early intervention, and cochlear implants have tremendously influenced the education and support of children who are deaf or…

The Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC) is Australia's largest independent special education provider and one of Australia's oldest charities. Founded in 1860 in Sydney, Australia, RIDBC seeks to provide high quality, innovative education and therapy to children who are deaf and hard of hearing and their families. RIDBC initially…

The aim of this study was to explore the ability of children who are profoundly deaf to reach high levels of reading proficiency on an inferential reading task. In an experimental narrative reading task, four children with prelingual hearing loss who used cued speech (MOC group) were compared with 58 students with typical hearing: 30 peers at the…

A decision aid for parents considering sequential bilateral cochlear implantation for their children with severe-to-profound hearing loss was developed using local and published evidence. Eight parents of children currently using one cochlear implant, who faced a decision regarding a second cochlear implant, and five clinicians involved in the…

In "The Relation of Language to Mental Development and of Speech to Language Teaching," S.G. Davidson displayed several timeless insights into the role of speech in developing language and reasons for using speech as the basis for instruction for children who are deaf and hard of hearing. His understanding that speech includes more than merely…