Prelexical Vocalization in Normal Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Infants Before and After Cochlear Implantation and Its Relation to Early Auditory Skills

Abstract

The PRISE was found to be a versatile tool for implant team clinicians who are required to assess prelinguistic skills of infants. The findings suggest that early auditory skills are related to prelexical vocalization. The data also highlighted unanswered questions related to the importance of early fitting of hearing aids on vocalization before and after implantation.

Evaluation of auditory development in infants and toddlers who received cochlear implants under the age of 24 months with the LittlEARS® Auditory Questionnaire

“…Furthermore, the auditory development considered as equivalent to the normative data can be reached by these children prior to 38 months of chronological age. The need for early exposure to auditory cues is also supported by Kishon-Rabin and colleagues [12], who presented a comparison of two groups of children: a group of NH children (163) and of children with hearing instruments (initially HAs; then implanted with CIs; 24 children), both groups aged between 8 and 23 months. They found a strong correlation between the acquisition of auditory skills and the vocal production in infants measured with the PRISE and the IT-MAIS questionnaires.…”

“…This stratification was chosen as the age of 12 months represents a critical point in time for CI implantation in children. The common earliest age of CI implantation in children has so far been 12 months or older [12]. However, with improved hearing screening and advanced diagnostic tools, children younger than 12 months of age and with hearing impairment are now earlier determined to be CI candidates [24].…”

“…In addition, these publications suggest the need for adequate evaluation or assessment tools to monitor and document the very early auditory development in children with CIs [10][11][12][13]. Several instruments have been introduced to assess the auditory development of young children fitted with appropriate hearing aid(s) (HAs) or CIs.…”

“…Also, the administration mode was found to significantly influence the outcome of the questionnaire. Nevertheless, the IT-MAIS is often used in research investigations and clinical settings [12,16].…”

Deaf children with cochlear implants before the age of 1 year: Comparison of preverbal communication with normally hearing children

“…As standardized tests and procedures are not suitable for this age, observation of babbling and visual habituation seem more appropriate [11][12][13][14]. Also interviews with parents and caretakers can be of importance [15][16][17][18]. In addition, parental measures have been developed such as the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories that provide information on reception and production of gestures as well as on speech and pragmatics [19].…”