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.
- Professor Katherine Demuth
- Professor Mridula Sharma
- Professor Greg Leigh – NextSense
- Inge Kaltenbrunn – NextSense
- Dr Aleisha Davis – The Shepherd Centre
- Alison King – Australian Hearing, The University of Melbourne
Our partners:
Contact: nan.xu@mq.edu.au
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.
- Dr Nan Xu Rattanasone
- Professor Katherine Demuth
- Associate-Professor Ping Tang – Nanjing University of Science and Technology
Contact: nan.xu@mq.edu.au
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.
- Dr Rebecca Holt
- Trudy Smith
- Professor Greg Leigh
Our research partners:
- NextSense
Contact: rebecca.holt@mq.edu.au