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Project

Auditory brainstem implantation and language development

This project aims to investigate the oral language development of congenitally hearing-impairedchildren with an auditory brainstem implant (ABI). ABI is a relatively new development to restorethe hearing of children with a severe-to-profound hearing loss due to i.a. the absence of theauditory nerve. The speech perception outcomes of children with ABI have been investigated, butdetailed linguistically underpinned studies of their speech production are virtually lacking.The goal of the present research project is to provide a first linguistically motivated description ofthe lexical and phonological development of children with ABI. Their development will beevaluated against the background of the acquisition process of normally hearing children and thatof severe-to-profound hearing-impaired children who received a cochlear implant.The focus is on the longitudinal development of the word productions of children with ABI. First,we investigate their cumulative vocabularies and the balance between their spoken and signedwords (lexical development). Second, their word productions are analysed from a phonologicalperspective: in what order are segments acquired and what phonological regularities account forthat order and (possible) deviations from that order? Which segmental substitution and deletionpatterns occur? What is the consistency and variability of their productions and how does theaccuracy of their word productions develop relative to the adult target forms?
Date:1 Oct 2017 →  30 Sep 2020
Keywords:SPEECH DEVELOPMENT, LANGUAGE ACQUISITION, COCHLEAR IMPLANTS, HEARING IMPAIRMENT
Disciplines:Linguistics, Theory and methodology of linguistics, Other languages and literary studies