Expert opinion: Assessing cochlear implant candidacy and progress for people with English as an additional language

Abstract

Special considerations relating to cochlear implants (CIs) are necessary for deaf people for whom English is an additional language (EAL). The audiological and pre-linguistic skills criteria for CI candidacy are the same for children with EAL as for children from English-speaking families. However, thorough assessment is not straightforward, for example, requiring employment of experienced interpreters. To ensure family engagement and thus appropriate support in the home, clear understanding of the family's social and cultural framework and of their needs and requirements is essential. Equally, the family must be enabled to understand the implications of CI. Additional training of staff in CI teams may be needed. This article will address these and other issues for children and also consider the situation for adults.

Investigating Socioeconomic Barriers to Cochlear Implantation

“…When clinicians do not speak the same language as their patients, they may have more difficulty scoring speech recognition tests even when languagespecific validated word lists are available (13,14). CI candidacy criteria are based on audiometric thresholds and open-set sentence testing (15)(16)(17). When English is not the first language, sentence structure may not be as advanced, and the sentences may be less culturally relevant (15).…”

“…CI candidacy criteria are based on audiometric thresholds and open-set sentence testing (15)(16)(17). When English is not the first language, sentence structure may not be as advanced, and the sentences may be less culturally relevant (15).…”

Delayed Speech Perception and Production after Cochlear Implantation in Bilingual Children from Non-Native Families

“…Based on our current results and on the analysis of the literature [31], the optimal strategy to achieve satisfactory results with CIs in bilingual children should include:…”