The emergence of productive speech and language in Spanish-learning paediatric cochlear implant users

Abstract

It has been proposed that cochlear implant users may develop robust categorical perception skills, but that they show limited precision in perception. This article explores if a parallel contrast is observable in production, and if, despite acquiring typical linguistic representations, their early words are inconsistent. The participants were eight Spanish-learning deaf children implanted before their second birthday. Two studies examined the transition from babbling to words, and the one-word period. Study 1 found that the participants used the same sound types in babbling and in words, indicating that production is guided by stored motor patterns. No clear evidence of inconsistent production was observed. Study 2 found that in the one-word period CI users develop typical prosodic representations, but that their productions are highly unstable. Results are discussed in terms of the role of auditory feedback for the development of productive language skills.

Intraword Variability in Children With Cochlear Implants: The Long-Term Development up to 5 Years of Age and a Comparison With Children With Normal Hearing

“…In that study, no effect of syllable length in children with CI was found. It should be noted that syllable omissions from target words were not considered as variable productions in Moreno-Torres (2014). This may at least partly explain the discrepant findings of his study and ours.…”

“…Variability increased when target words contained more syllables in both groups of children. To the best of our knowledge, the only study that reported on the effect of word length on intraword variability in children with CI was Moreno-Torres (2014). In that study, no effect of syllable length in children with CI was found.…”

“…Moreover, the degraded signal may also restrict children's perception of their own productions, like auditory feedback of their own productions. As auditory feedback is also essential in fine-tuning articulation (Stoel-Gammon, 2011;Stoel-Gammon & Sosa, 2007), it may add to production inconsistency in children with CI, as hypothesized by Moreno-Torres (2014).…”

What can we expect of normally-developing children implanted at a young age with respect to their auditory, linguistic and cognitive skills?

“…Early access to sound enables 'early neural wiring' in the brain, which is advantageous for auditory and cognitive development, and which, in turn, will facilitate onset of babbling, a precursor for the development of spoken language (e.g. Schauwers et al, 2008;Moreno-Torres, 2014). Although the ability of the brain to adapt as a result of experience persists throughout life, certain changes are more predominant during the first few years of life (e.g.…”

Vocal Development in Infants and Toddlers With Bilateral Cochlear Implants and Infants With Normal Hearing

“…Children who have no secondary disabilities and receive unilateral CIs within the first three years of life often make relatively rapid progress in vocal development compared to younger, TD children (Ertmer & Jung, 2012;Ertmer & Mellon, 2001;Ertmer, Young, & Nathani, 2007;Fagan, 2015;Moreno-Torres, 2014;Schauwers, Gillis, Daemers, de Beukelaer, & Govaerts, 2004). This outcome is encouraging in that it suggests that children with profound HL are building a foundation for phonological development through exposure to auditory models and auditory feedback.…”