Graeme Clark Collection

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    A clinical report on vocabulary skills in cochlear implant users [Abstract]
    Dawson, P. ; Blamey, P. ; Dettman, S. ; Rowland, L. ; Barker, E. ; Cowan, R. ; Clark, Graeme M. ( 1994)
    Receptive vocabulary results are reported for 32 children, adolescents and prelinguistically deafened adults implanted with the 22-electrode cochlear implant at the Melbourne Cochlear Implant Clinic. Age at implantation ranged from 2 years, 6 months to 20 years and implant use ranged from 1 year to 7 years, 8 months. There were significant gains from pre- to postoperative assessments on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) for the majority of subjects. Rates of improvement found are compatible with previous reports on smaller numbers of implant users, but cannot be attributable unambiguously to use of the implant. The group postoperative performance was significantly higher than mean preoperative performance (n =25). The relationship of variables such as duration of implant use, duration of profound deafness and speech perception ability to improvement on the PPVT is discussed. Expressive vocabulary results on the Renfrew Word Finding Vocabulary Scale are reported for 11 of the subjects. Less substantial gains were made on this measure.
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    Issues in long-term management of children with cochlear implants and tactile devices [Abstract]
    COWAN, ROBERT ; DOWELL, RICHARD ; Barker, Elizabeth ; GALVIN, KARYN ; DETTMAN, SHANI ; SARANT, JULIA ; RANCE, GARY ; Hollow, Rod ; BLAMEY, PETER ; Clark, Graeme M. ( 1994)
    For many children with severe and profound hearing losses, conventional hearing aids are unable to provide sufficient amplification to ensure good oral communication and/or in the case of very young children, development of speech and language. Traditionally a number of these children have opted for the use of sign language alone or in Total Communication approaches as a primary means of communication. The advent of multiple channel cochlear implants for children and the continuing development of multiple channel speech processing tactile devices provide auditory approaches to resolving communication difficulties for these children. The successful use of such devices depends on a number of factors including the information provided through the aid; the ease of use, convenience and reliability of the aid; the individual communication needs of the child; and the habilitation and management program used with the device. Long-term data has shown that children continue to show increased speech perception benefits from improvements in speech processing and from further experience with these devices. Habilitation and management programs must therefore be geared to meet the changing needs of children as they progress and of families as children mature and face new challenges. Habilitation must address specific individual needs in speech perception and in speech production. For very young children, benefits of improved speech perception should have an impact on the development of speech and language, and habilitation and management must emphasise the need for language growth.
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    Cochlear implants in children, adolescents, and prelinguistically deafened adults: speech perception
    Dawson, Pam. W ; Blamey, Peter J. ; Rowland, Louise C. ; Dettman, Shani J. ; Clark, Graeme M. ; Busby, Peter A. ; Brown, Alison M. ; Dowell, Richard C. ; Rickards, Field W. ( 1992)
    A group of 10 children, adolescents, and prelinguistically deafened adults were implanted with the 22-electrode cochlear implant (Cochlear Pty Ltd) at the University of Melbourne Cochlear Implant Clinic and have used the prosthesis for periods from 12 to 65 months. Postoperative performance on the majority of closed-set speech perception tests was significantly greater than chance, and significantly better than preoperative performance for all of the patients. Five of the children have achieved substantial scores on open-set speech tests using hearing without lipreading. Phoneme scores in monosyllabic words ranged from 30% to 72%; word scores in sentences ranged from 26% to 74%. Four of these 5 children were implanted during preadolescence (aged 5:5 to 10:2 years) and the fifth, who had a progressive loss, was implanted during adolescence (aged 14:8 years). The duration of profound deafness before implantation varied from 2 to 8 years. Improvements were also noted over postoperative data collection times for the younger children. The remaining 5 patients who did not demonstrate open-set recognition were implanted after a longer duration of profound deafness (aged 13:11 to 20:1 years). The results are discussed with reference to variables that may affect implant performance, such as age at onset of loss, duration of profound loss, age at implantation, and duration of implantation. They are compared with results for similar groups of children using hearing aids and cochlear implants.
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    Cochlear implants in children, adolescents, and prelinguistically deafened adults: speech perception
    Dawson, Pam W. ; Blamey, Peter J. ; Rowland, Louise C. ; Dettman, Shani J. ; Clark, Graeme M. ; Busby, Peter A. ; Brown, Alison M. ; Dowell, Richard C. ; Rickards, Field W. ( 1992)
    A group of 10 children, adolescents, and prelinguistically deafened adults were implanted with the 22-electrode cochlear implant (Cochlear Ply Ltd) at the University of Melbourne Cochlear Implant Clinic and have used the prosthesis for periods from 12 to 65 months. Postoperative performance on the majority of closed-set speech perception tests was significantly greater than chance, and significantly better than preoperative performance for all of the patients. Five of the children have achieved substantial scores on open-set speech tests using hearing without lipreading. Phoneme scores in monosyllabic words ranged from 30% to 72%; word scores in sentences ranged from 26% to 74%. Four of these 5 children were implanted during preadolescence (aged 5:5 to 10:2 years) and the fifth, who had a progressive loss, was implanted during adolescence (aged 14:8 years). The duration of profound deafness before implantation varied from 2 to 8 years. Improvements were also noted over postoperative data collection times for the younger children. The remaining 5 patients who did not demonstrate open-set recognition were implanted after a longer duration of profound deafness (aged 13:11to 20:1 years). The results are discussed with reference to variables that may affect implant performance, such as age at onset of loss, duration of profound loss, age at implantation, and duration of implantation. They are compared with results for similar groups of children using hearing aids and cochlear implants.