Hearing and Speech Development Post-Cochlear Implantation

Vocabulary flashcards covering the functionality of cochlear implants, candidacy requirements, auditory training, and the stages of speech development in deaf children.

Hearing aids

Devices that help those with mild to severe hearing loss and remaining healthy sensory hair cells by using amplification to transmit sound to the brain.

Cochlear implants

Surgical implants for moderate to profound hearing loss that convert acoustic energy into electrical energy to directly stimulate CN VIII (vestibulocochlear).

CN VIII

The vestibulocochlear nerve, which is directly stimulated by the electrical energy from a cochlear implant to provide the sensation of hearing.

Electrode array

A component of a cochlear implant consisting of 22-24 electrode bands that are mapped by an AuD several weeks after surgery.

Adult Cochlear Implant Candidates

Individuals who are post lingually deafened, have bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss, and receive little to no benefit from hearing aids.

Pediatric Cochlear Implant Team

A group consisting of an otolaryngologist, AuD, SLP, psychologist, educators, and FAMILY who decide on implantation for children ages 5 months and older.

Auditory Training Assessment Skills

Skills evaluated following implantation including awareness, attention, discrimination, identification, memory, sequencing, and closure.

Pre-canonical vocalizations

Vocalizations dominant during the first 6 months of life that lack true vowels and consonants, including squeals, vocants, and closants.

Closants

A type of pre-canonical vocalization characterized by a single or series of clicks, raspberries, or lipsmacks.

Canonical vocalizations

Well-formed syllables characterized by normal phonation and a rapid transition between consonant and vowel, emerging between 6 and 12 months.

Post-canonical vocalizations

Advanced forms emerging after 10 months that include CVC, VC, and CCV syllables, jargon, and phonemic diphthongs.

Jargon

Syllable strings with varied consonants and vowels overlaid with rhythmic stress, intonation changes, or both.

Phonemic diphthongs

Advanced vocalization forms identified in the notes as $/al/$, $/aU/$, and $/OI/$.

Diane (Case Study)

An individual who achieved the canonical level rapidly and showed accelerated speech gains during the first postimplantation year.

Michael (Case Study)

A child who showed very limited canonical vocalizations throughout the first year, indicating early implantation does not guarantee advantage over later implantation.