Children's gaze behavior reflects emergent linguistic knowledge and real-time language processing of speech, but little is known about naturalistic gaze behaviors while watching signed narratives. Measuring gaze patterns in signing children could uncover how they master perceptual gaze control during a time of active language learning. Gaze…

The study asked whether Deaf mothers seek to exploit the iconicity in signed languages to facilitate their infants' word learning. Two longitudinal case studies followed modifications that 2 Deaf mothers applied to their input while interacting with their hearing infants. Both mothers were sensitive to the communicative abilities of their infants…

Deaf children of hearing parents (DOH) are at risk for early language delays (ELD) due to environmental and etiological factors, compounding the previously reported higher incidence of ELD in deaf children of deaf parents (DOD) compared to the general population. Archival data from the online database of the Visual Communication and Sign Language…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the time course of vocal development in infants and toddlers with bilateral cochlear implants (CIs; bilateral CI group) who are acquiring Finnish and to compare their progress to that of infants with normal hearing and typical development (TD group). Method: Five thousand nine hundred…

Infants are born highly sensitive to the natural patterns found in languages. They use their perceptual sensitivity to acquire detailed information about the structure of languages in their environment. To date, most studies of infant perception and early language acquisition have investigated spoken/auditory languages and hearing infants (e.g.…

This research study aimed to explore the experiences of caregivers of children through the early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) process in the public health care sector in South Africa. A qualitative research design was employed. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 8 caregivers from 3 different levels of service delivery in…

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop a risk prediction model for detecting middle ear pathology in 6- to 9-month-old infants using wideband absorbance measures. Method: Two hundred forty-nine infants aged 23-39 weeks (Mdn = 28 weeks) participated in the study. Distortion product otoacoustic emissions and high-frequency tympanometry were…

Purpose: The aim of this article was to study the normal longitudinal development of wideband absorbance and admittance measures through infancy. Method: Two hundred one infants who passed the newborn hearing screen (automated auditory brainstem response) were tested at birth and then followed up at approximately 6, 12, and 18 months of age. Most…

Purpose: This study assesses the impact of patient clinical history on audiologists' performance when interpreting auditory brainstem response (ABR) results. Method: Fourteen audiologists' accuracy in estimating hearing threshold for 16 infants through interpretation of ABR traces was compared on 2 occasions at least 5 months apart. On the 1st…

This study addresses the topic of visual communication and early sign language acquisition in deaf children with a Flemish Sign Language (Vlaamse Gebarentaal or VGT) input. Results are obtained through a checklist focusing on sign-exposed deaf children's visual communication and early sign language acquisition: the adapted VGT Visual Communication…

Being connected to other people at the level of inner and unobservable mental states is one of the most essential aspects of a meaningful life, including psychological well-being and successful cooperation. The foundation for this kind of connectedness is our theory of mind (ToM), that is the ability to understand our own and others' inner…

The purpose of this study was to establish a set of normative data (growth curve and centiles) for the Infant Monitor of vocal Production (IMP) using a representative population of infants with typically developing hearing. A linear mixed effect model and regression was used to derive 'stage-for-age' trajectory and growth centiles from the…

Purpose: This study investigates how the variables of culture and hearing status might influence the amount of parent-child talk families engage in throughout an average day. Method: Seventeen Vietnamese and 8 Canadian families of children with hearing loss and 17 Vietnamese and 13 Canadian families with typically hearing children between the ages…

This study investigates prosodic modulation in the spontaneous canonical babble of congenitally deaf infants with cochlear implants (CI) and normally hearing (NH) infants. Research has shown that the acoustic cues to prominence are less modulated in CI babble. However acoustic measurements of individual cues to prominence give incomplete…

Infants as young as 2 months can integrate audio and visual aspects of speech articulation. A shift of attention from the eyes towards the mouth of talking faces occurs around 6 months of age in monolingual infants. However, it is unknown whether this pattern of attention during audiovisual speech processing is influenced by speech and language…