This survey study describes rates of utilization of evidence-informed auditory-verbal strategies among 132 professionals (teachers of the deaf, speech-language pathologists, audiologists, early interventionists, and others) working with children who are deaf or hard of hearing who use listening and spoken language. Relationships between provider…

With modern improvements to hearing aids and cochlear implant (CI) technology, and consequently improved access to speech, there has been greater emphasis on listening-based therapies for children with hearing loss, such as auditory-verbal therapy (AVT). Speech and language, speech perception in noise, and reading were evaluated before and after…

Prelinguistic vocal development is "the process by which infants and toddlers produce increasingly more complex, phonetically diverse, and speech-like utterances before they say words on a regular basis" (Ertmer, 2005, p. 85). Research has shown that children with bilateral, moderate-to-profound hearing loss experience delays and deficits in vocal…

A history of hearing and a review of the physics of sound is followed by an overview of how the ear works. The outer hair cell is the focus of particular attention because of its central role in the conversion of sound energy into neural energy used by the brain. Contains a list of recommended resources. (CR)

A case study is presented of a 12-year-old child with a congenital profound bilateral sensori-neural hearing loss, who received rehabilitative audio-therapy according to the verbotonal method. (Author/LS)

Sixteen children with moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss were trained on the production and auditory perception of sibilants over two 2-week periods. Perception performance improved significantly during training periods with a small amount of carryover to non-training contrast periods. Improvements in production performance occurred…

An instrument for measuring and tracking changes in auditory skill development over time was developed for use with a group of children with profound deafness who received a MED-EL COMBI 40+ cochlear implant. The aim of this paper is to describe the use of this instrument, the "Checklist of Auditory Communication Skills", and to present results…

Twenty-two hearing-impaired children (ages 9 to 13) with a hearing loss of 80 dB or greater completed 3 tasks of intonation perception and production. Acoustic analysis suggested a relationship between imitation and discrimination of intonation contours and a relationship between imitation and production of orally read sentences when a rising…

An imitative test of speech pattern contrast perception was administered to profoundly deaf children using hearing aids (n=76) or cochlear implants (n=18). Implant users performed, on average, similarly to individuals with an 88 decibel hearing loss, indicating that implant use can provide auditory speech perception capacity similar to that of…

While the Auditory-Verbal approach has been a popular intervention option for children with hearing loss since the 1940s. few empirical studies have evaluated the communication and academic outcomes of those children who have participated in this intervention approach. The focus of this article is to discuss the standards of evidence-based…

This paper describes changes in speech perception performance of deaf children using cochlear implants, tactile aids, or conventional hearing aids over a three-year period. Eleven of the 13 children with cochlear implants were able to identify words on the basis of auditory consonant cues. Significant lipreading enhancement was also achieved with…

The purposes of this paper are to examine the degree of ethnic diversity that exists among children with hearing loss; to review how this affects implementation of auditory-based intervention for children with many needs; and to suggest ways that auditory-based therapists can respect and respond to diversity for the improvement of services to…

This paper describes components of the Nucleus 22 Channel Cochlear Implant System used with deaf children and adults. It discusses speech coding strategies, programming concepts, programming the device for children, trouble-shooting, and fitting an FM system to a speech processor. It reports data showing improved ability to use auditory…

A study compared continuous discourse tracking rates in eight children (ages 8-14) with hearing impairments and eight typical children using three competing noise conditions: classroom noise, videotaped classroom activity, and combined noise and visual activity. Statistical analyses showed no significant differences among tracking rates due to the…