Child Language Research Center

Published articles

Barker, B. A., & Tomblin, J. B. (2004). Comparing bimodal perception skills in infant hearing aid and cochlear implant users. Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, 130, 582-586.

Barker, B. A., & Bass-Ringdahl, S. M. (2004). The effect of audibility on audio-visual speech perception in very young cochlear implant recipients. International Congress Series, 1273, 316-319.
Bø Wie, O., Falkenberg, E-S., Tvete, O. and Tomblin, J.B. (2007). Children with a cochlear implant: Characteristics and determinants of speech recognition, speech-recognition growth rate, and speech production. International Journal of Audiology 46:232-243

Green, G.E., Scott, D.A., McDonald, J.M., Teagle, H.F.B., Tomblin, J.B., Spencer, L.J., Woodworth, G.G., Knutson, J.F., Gantz, B.J., Sheffield, V.C., and Smith, R.J.H. (2002). Performance of cochlear implant recipients with GJB2-related deafness. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 109:167-170.

Moore, J.A., & Bass-Ringdahl, S.M. (2002). Role of infant vocal development in candidacy for and efficacy of cochlear implantation. Annals of Otology, Rhinology, & Laryngology - Supplement 189, 111, 52-5.
Peng, S-C., Tomblin, J.B., Spencer, L.J., Hurtig, R.R. (2007). Imitative Production of Rising Speech Intonation in Pediatric Cochlear Implant Recipients. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research. 50:1210-1277.
Peng, S-C., Spencer, L.J., and Tomblin, J.B. (2004). Speech Intelligibility of Pediatric Cochlear Implant Recipients with Seven Years of Device Experience. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 47:1227-1236.
Spencer, L.J. and Tomblin, J.B. (2008). Evaluating Phonological Processing Skills in Children With Prelingual Deafness Who Use Cochlear Implants. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 2008; doi: 10.1093/deafed/enn013.

Spencer, L.J. and Oleson, J.J. (2008). Early Listening and speaking skills predict later reading proficiency in pediatric cochlear implant users. Ear and Hearing. 29(2) 270-280.

Spencer, L.J. & Bass-Ringdahl, S. (2004). An evolution of communication modalities: very young cochlear implant users who transitioned from sign to speech during the first years of use. International Congress Series, 1273, 352-355 Elsevier.

Spencer, L.J., Gantz, B.J., and Knutson, J.F. (2004). Outcomes and achievement of students who grew up with access to cochlear implants. Laryngoscope, 114:1576-1581.

Spencer, L.J., Barker, B.A., and Tomblin, J.B. (2003). Exploring the language and literacy outcomes of pediatric cochlear implant users. Ear and Hearing, 24, 236-247.

Spencer, L.J., Tye-Murray, N., and Tomblin, J.B. (1998). The Production of English Inflectional Morphology, Speech Production and Listening Performance in Children with Cochlear Implants. Ear and Hearing, 19(4), 310-318.

Spencer, L.J., Tye-Murray, N., Kelsay, D., and Teagle, D. (1998). Learning to Use the Cochlear Implant: A Child Who Beat the Odds. American Journal of Audiology, 7(1), 24-29.
Spencer, L.J., Tomblin, J.B., and Gantz, B.J. (1999). Reading Skills in Children with Multichannel Cochlear-Implant Experience. Volta Review, 99(4), 193-202.
Tomblin, J. B., Peng, S.C., Spencer, L.J., Lu, N. (2008). Long-Term Trajectories of the Development of Speech SoundProduction in Pediatric CochlearImplant Recipients. Journal of Speech-Language and Hearing Research (51) 5 pp 1353-1368.

Tomblin, J.B., Barker, B.A., Hubbs, S. (2007). Developmental constraints on language development in children with cochlear implants. International Journal of Audiology. 46:512-523.
Tomblin, J.B., Barker, BA, Spencer, L.J., Zhang, X., and Gantz, B.J. (2005). The effect of age at cochlear implant stimulation on expressive language growth in infants and toddlers. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 48, 853-867.

Tomblin, J.B., Spencer, L.J., Flock, S., Tyler, R., & Gantz, B.J. (1999). A comparison of Language Achievement in Children with Cochlear Implants and Children using Hearing Aids. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42, 497-511.

Walker, E.A. and Bass-Ringdahl, S. (2007). Babbling Complexity and Its Relationship to Speech and Language Outcomes in Children With Cochlear Implants. Otology & Neurotology
29(2):225-229.

Posters/Presentations

Posters that explore the language development of children with cochlear implants are listed below; many are linked in pdf. An Adobe Acrobat viewer is necessary to read these files. Need to download this free viewer?

Barker, B. A. & Bass-Ringdahl, S. M. (2004, May). The effect of audibility on audio-visual speech perception in very young cochlear implant recipients. Poster presented at the 8th International Cochlear Implant Conference, Indianapolis, IN.
Barker, B. A., & Tomblin, J. B. (2002, September). Assessing speech perception skills in pediatric cochlear implant users via the Split-Screen Preferential Looking Procedure. Poster session presented at the 7th International Cochlear Implant Conference, Manchester, England.
Tomblin, J. B., Spencer, L. J., & Barker, B. A. (2002, July). The effect of age of cochlear implantation on language growth in infants and toddlers. Poster session presented at the 23rd Annual Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, Madison, WI. Paper also presented at the 7th International Cochlear Implant Conference, Manchester, England.

PowerPoint Presentations

Barker B. A., & Tomblin, J. B. (2003, April). Comparing bimodal perception skills in infant hearing-aid and cochlear-implant users. Paper presented at the 9th Symposium on Cochlear Implants in Children, Washington, D.C.
Barker, B. A., & Tomblin, J. B. (2003, November). Comparing bimodal perception skills in infant hearing-aid and cochlear-implant users. Paper presented at the Annual American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, Chicago, IL.

Spencer, L.J. (2003, April). The First Class: Educational Outcomes and Achievement Test Results from Students Who Grew Up Wearing Cochlear Implants. Paper presented at the 9th Symposium for Cochlear Implants in Children Conference, Washington, DC.

The following four children were fitted with cochlear implants. As you listen to audio samples of their speech over time, you will likely note that language progression of children implanted with these devices is far from predictable. Research continues to try to better understand the processes behind achievement.

Listen for yourself. (Note: the linked audio files are presented in wav format, and thus, you need a sound card and speakers, as well as a media player, to hear them.)

Child 1 received a set of cochlear implants at 18 months of age.
	At 10 months of age, s/he is wearing hearing aids. Note that this child is in the pre-cannonical stage, exhibiting vowel prolongations. Now at 12 months post implantation, (20 months of age), s/he produces cannonical babble and first words. At 5 years of age, Child 1 exhibits intelligible speech.
Child 2 has made great strides since receiving his cochlear implant at three years of age.
	At 36 months post-implant, he is 6 years old. When this child reached 10 years of age, he had worn his CI for 84 months. By 120 months post-implant, Child 2 is 13 years old, and his speech has become understandable to most listeners.
Child 3 was 3 years old at time of implantation.
	Just prior to implantation, the child is imitating consonant vowel sequences with just fair accuracy. In this audio sample, the child is now 5 years old (24 months post-implant) and is able to imitate short sentences. You will note that the child produces consonant-vowel-consonant combinations but tends to delete final sounds and has several substitutions. At 72 months after implantation, he is now age 9 and very intelligible. You are able to note that sounds are complete and there are few, if any, articulation errors. Now at 11 years post implantation and age 14, you will hear a fully mature voice that has undergone pubescent voice change. Intelligibility is high.
Child 4 was 4 years old at implant surgery. Listen to the audio samples to hear how this child's language progressed differently than that of Child 3.
	Child 4 at 5 years of age (12 months after surgical intervention). Intelligibility is low, with many omissions of consonant clusters, and substitution errors. Now two years post implantation at age 6, there is some improvement in intelligibility, yet some consonant substitutions and deletions remain. At age 10, this child is 48 months post implantation. There is a marked increase in intelligibility with fewer consonant errors, yet substitutions are noted in consonant blends. Six years post implantation (at age 12), note subtle changes. Residual consonant substitutions can be heard, for example d/g, t/s, d/voiced th. The final sample is 96 months post implantation, and at age 14, intelligibility is very high. Only subtle consonantal errors are noted, with some slight prosodic differences present.

Description of work
Research has shown that implantation of congenitally deaf children accelerates their development of speech-based communication. Theories of speech and language development predict that earlier implantation should provide improved benefits and accelerated growth in speech and language development over later implantation. Additionally we should note that growth in speech production and language development is constrained as the child approaches adolescence.

The first study will continue to evaluate the outcomes of current and emerging practices of cochlear implantation. We have one of the largest longitudinal cohorts in the country and we will examine whether young adults implanted in childhood attain many of the social, occupational and personal outcomes as their peers with hearing. Additionally we will continue to investigate the processes behind reading achievement within children who have cochlear implants. This includes investigating the extent to which these children are able to develop a phonological code for processing the English language and then to determine how well they are able to use this information for speech, language and literacy achievement.

We will complete a second set of investigations. One aim will test for the effects of new practices concerning cochlear implantation with prior practices of implantation. This includes examining the effects of very early implantation and bilateral implantation on speech perception, production and language acquisition with what we have seen in children who were implanted at older ages and with only one implant. A second t aim will characterize the mechanisms and developmental processes that underlie speech perception skills of congenitally deaf children who receive cochlear implants. As we feel that the efficacy of cochlear implantation is no longer a question we will systematically evaluate developmental mechanisms of speech processing and word recognition used by pediatric CI recipients.