Better language and communication for children with hearing loss

Understanding communication breakdowns

Our research is focused on identifying the locus of linguistic challenge to help inform practice.

Learn more about the projects we are undertaking in this area and the research teams involved.

Better communication for children with hearing loss

Full title: Beyond Speech: Towards better communication for children with hearing loss

Funded by: an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant

Despite the benefits of early screening and interventions for children with hearing loss, most still experience challenges at school. This is partly due to ongoing listening effort, leading to communicative breakdown.

We aim to go “beyond speech” to better understand the challenges faced by these children.

The outcomes will:

• identify which levels of language are most compromised
• inform future interventions to reduce listening effort
• lead to the development of screening tools to help identify those most at risk of communicative breakdown
• inform future strategies to enhance discourse interactions.

Improving the outcomes of Mandarin-speaking children with hearing loss

Funded by: the Martin Lee Centre for Innovations in Hearing Health

Tonal languages, such as Mandarin, use pitch information to distinguish word and discourse meaning.

Despite advances in cochlear implant (CI) technology, these devices do not transmit pitch information effectively.

Even when early implanted, children learning tonal languages continue to experience challenges, leading to delayed acquisition of tones.

This problem affects approximately 4.6 million children with profound hearing loss in China.

This project will establish the ability of children who use CIs to use pitch information for understanding, producing and distinguishing information about words and sentences.

The outcomes of the study will inform:

• health policy
• clinical practice.

Language processing speed in children who are DHH

Full title: Investigating processing speed for spoken and written language in deaf and hard of hearing schoolchildren

Funded by: Australian Hearing Hub Members' Committee

For effective learning and socialising, it is critical that children comprehend spoken and written language rapidly to 'keep up' with their teachers and peers.

However, deaf and hard of hearing children using hearing aids or cochlear implants are anecdotally reported to comprehend language slower than those with normal hearing.

This project aims to review the current state of knowledge on language processing speed in deaf and hard of hearing children to inform:

• potential classroom support strategies
• provisions in assessment tasks
• directions for future research.