Speech perception and language outcomes for infants receiving cochlear implants

In this presentation, Dr Shani Dettman, Speech Pathologist, Clinical Researcher and Senior Lecturer at the University of Melbourne discusses speech perception and language outcomes for infants receiving cochlear implants, before and after nine months of age.

Cochlear Implants (CIs) are a mature technology. By definition, a mature technology has been in use for a sufficient period during which initial faults and flaws have been removed or addressed. Software, programming and implementation advances over the past 30 years have improved safety, cost-effectiveness and clinical efficacy of CIs as a first line of treatment option for children with severe to profound hearing loss. However, there are still some questions raised by clinicians, teachers and parents regarding the urgency for such surgical intervention.

Dr Dettman refers to a study conducted by the University of Melbourne, which summarises the evidence regarding age-at-implant as a contributing factor to optimum paediatric communication outcomes, specifically asking the question, “Is there any advantage to proceeding with CIs in infants younger than 9 months of age?”. Dr Dettman discusses the outcomes of the research study to examine the relationship between speech perception, language outcomes and age of implantation. 

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This On-Demand presentation is delivered in spoken English with captioning

Participants will be able to:

• Explain the variables (child, environmental and device) known to impact speech perception and language outcomes for children using cochlear implants.
• Describe the relationship between speech perception, language outcomes and age of implantation at different age intervals.
• Discuss current evidence and outcomes for infants with cochlear implants.

Dr Shani Dettman is a Senior Lecturer within the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology at the University of Melbourne. In this role, Shani has supervised over 96 University of Melbourne Masters students to successfully meet the requirements for their research minor thesis and has supervised/co-supervised 8 PhD students. These research projects have been presented at local and international conferences, allowing the students to experience working within a research team, and wider dissemination of their results.

Shani worked as a speech pathologist in the Cochlear Implant Clinic (CIC) and as a researcher at the University of Melbourne from 1987 to 2005. She developed the protocols for the pre- and post-implant assessment and management of young children with significant hearing loss and worked closely with numerous families during their cochlear implant journey. Shani completed her Masters of Education (1997) and PhD (2005) at the University of Melbourne and obtained her Auditory Verbal Certification in 2003.

Shani is widely cited for her work which demonstrates the efficacy of cochlear implants for infants younger than 12 months of age. Shani has authored/co-authored over 53 scientific publications including: 47 journal articles (17 as first author); 5 book chapters (2 as first author); and over 193 conference papers (100 as first author).

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Participants who successfully complete this On-Demand Presentation will receive a certificate noting 2 hours of professional learning.