HEARing CRC Supervisor: Elizabeth Harrison

HEARing CRC Project: R4.2.2

Title:  Language Aquisition in Young Children with Hearing Loss enrolled in Early Intervention.

Detail: Children diagnosed with hearing loss who receive hearing devices and enrolled in early intervention programs at a very young age continue to have variable outcomes.  It is likely that this partly results from the aetiology of hearing loss and its disruption to perception of linguistic cues, but may also be contributed to by the type and degree of habilitation provided.   

This project aims to explore the relationships between language acquisition and specific deterministic factors, and may include:

• Comparative language outcomes for pre-lingually deaf children fitted with hearing aids as compared to cochlear implants, and whether language is acquired continually, or if there plateaus in development;
• Outcomes for children with different etiologies including:  ANSD, CMV, LVAS and  mild and unilateral hearing losses;
• Speech and language acquisition rates for children with hearing loss from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds;
• Effects of specific modes of habilitation delivery (e.g. remote v face-to-face)
• The site-of-lesion, disruption to timing cues and functional outcomes in children with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder

This research aims to provide an evidence base to guide the service delivery, management and best practice intervention models for all children with hearing loss to achieve optimal spoken language outcomes.