Graeme Clark Collection

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    Predicting speech perception results for children using multichannel cochlear implants [Abstract]
    Dowell, Richard C. ; Dettman, Shani J. ; WILLIAMS, SARAH ; Hill, Katie ; TOMOV, ALEXANDRA ; Clark, Graeme M. ( 2002)
    It is most helpful in counselling families considering cochlear implantation to have some ability to predict outcomes for individual hearing-impaired children. Speech perception results for open-set words and sentences have been collected for all children implanted with the Nucleus device in Melbourne. Assessments are available at approximately six month intervals following implantation, Data was collected for each child regarding type of hearing loss, duration and age at onset of profound hearing loss, age at implantation, pre and post-implant communication mode, developmental delay, speech coding scheme and implant experience. These data were used as predictor variables in step-wise multiple linear regression analyses with the speech perception scores as the dependent variables. Shorter duration of profound hearing loss, later onset of profound hearing loss, exclusively oral communication mode following implantation, and longer implant experience were associated with significantly (p < 0.00 I) improved open-set speech perception. The use of the SPEAK signal coding scheme was shown to provide significantly better speech perception performance for children (p < 0.00 I). Developmental delay was associated with poorer speech perception outcomes (p < 0.0 I). Over 50% of the variance in speech perception scores was accounted for by these variables. The study suggests that younger implantation for congenitally deaf children leads to improved speech perception results. On the other hand, the development of auditory language skills in implanted children may be as important as age at implantation in enhancing long term outcomes. Regression equations derived from these results can be used to predict outcomes for cochlear implant candidates with a reasonable accuracy.
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    Results for children and adolescents using the multichannel cochlear prosthesis [Abstract]
    Dowell, Richard C. ; Clark, Graeme M. ; Dettman, Shani J. ; Dawson, Pamela W. ( 1992)
    The first adolescent to use the 22-electrode cochlear prosthesis was Implanted In Melbourne in 1985 and the first child (less than 10 years), the following year. Since then, over 100 children have received the cochlear prosthesis in Australia and over 1200 worldwide. Detailed assessment of 200 children in the U.S.A., Australia and Germany lead to the market approval of the prosthesis by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July 1990. The analysis of results for these children has proven to be difficult due to the use of different tests in different places, the lack of appropriate assessment tools for young children, the wide range of performance, and the problems of cooperation for young children. Despite these problems, some trends are beginning to emerge in the speech perception results for implanted children. Children with a greater amount of auditory experience before becoming profoundly deaf tend to perform better, as do children with more experience with the cochlear prosthesis. Those with a greater number of electrodes in use also perform better, a result supported by adult studies. Although older prelinguistically deafened children do not perform as well as postlinguistically deafened adults, there appears to be little difference between results for pre-and post-linguistically deafened young children. These trends In speech perception results will be discussed in more detail.
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    Speech perception, production and language results in a group of children using the 22-electrode cochlear implant
    Blamey, P. J. ; Dawson, P. W. ; Dettman, S. J. ; Rowland, L. C. ; Brown, A. M. ; Busby, P. A. ; Dowell, R. C. ; Rickards, F. W. ; Clark, Graeme M. ( 1992)
    Five children out of a group of nine (aged 5.5 to 19.9 years) implanted with the 22-electrode cochlear implant (Cochlear Ply. Ltd.) have achieved substantial scores on open-set speech tests using hearing without lipreading. Phoneme scores for monosyllabic words ranged from 40% to 72%. Word scores in sentences ranged from 26% to 74%. Four of these five children were implanted during preadolescence. The fifth child, who had a progressive loss and was implanted during adolescence after a short period of very profound deafness, scored highest on all speech perception tests. The remaining four children who did not demonstrate open-set recognition were implanted during adolescence after a long duration of profound deafness. Post-operative performance on closed-set speech perception tests was better than pre-operative performance for all children. Improvements in speech and language assessments were also noted. These improvements tended to be greater for the younger children. The results are discussed with reference to variables which may contribute to successful implant use: such as age at onset, duration of profound hearing loss, age at implantation, aetiology, educational program, and the type of training provided.
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    Post-implant habilitation for children using cochlear implants: effects on long-term outcome
    Dowell, Richard C. ; Dettman, Shani J. ; WILLIAMS, SARAH ; TOMOV, ALEXANDRA ; Hollow, Rod ; Clark, Graeme M. ( 2002)
    Most clinicians working in the cochlear implant field advocate a regular habilitation program for young children receiving implants. The development of auditory skills and the incorporation of these skills into language development are thought to be key areas for such programs. Studies of speech perception and language outcomes demonstrate that an educational approach that emphasises spoken language development appears to enhance the results for implanted children. It remains difficult, however, to demonstrate clearly the effect of habilitation objectively and to determine how much individual attention is desirable for each child. This pilot study considered the long term speech perception and language outcomes for two groups of children who received Nucleus cochlear implants in Melbourne. One group (n=17) was identified as receiving regular habilitation from the Melbourne Cochlear Implant Clinic over a four year post-operative period. Another group (n=l1) was identified as receiving very little regular habilitation over the post-operative period. The language and speech perception results for these two groups showed a significant difference in performance on a wide range of measures with the group receiving regular formal habilitation demonstrating better performance on all measures. These groups included only congenitally, profoundly hearing-impaired children and did not differ significantly on mean age at implant or experience at the time of assessment. Further studies are needed to clarify these results on a larger group of children, and to control for additional confounding variables. Nonetheless, these preliminary results provide support for the incorporation of regular long-term habilitation into cochlear implant programs for children.
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    Predicting speech perception outcomes for children using multichannel cochlear implants [Abstract]
    Dowell, Richard C. ; Dettman, Shani J. ; WILLIAMS, SARAH ; Hill, Katie ; TOMOV, ALEXANDRA ; Clark, Graeme M. ( 2002)
    The ability to predict outcomes for children who are cochlear implant candidates is most helpful in counselling families and making clinical recommendations. Open-set speech perception results have been collected for all children implanted with the Nucleus device in Melbourne. Speech perception as assessed at six month intervals following implantation. Information wascollected for each child regarding type of hearing loss, duration and age at onset of profound hearing loss, age at implantation, pre and post-implant communication mode, developmental delay, speech coding scheme and implant experience.
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    What factors contribute to successful outcomes for children using cochlear implants
    Cowan, Robert C. ; Clark, Graeme M. ; Dowell, Richard C. ; Dettman, Shani J ; Barker, Elizabeth ; Latus, Katie ; Hollow, Rod ; Blamey, Peter J. ( 2000)
    Long term speech perception data has been collected for 100 children using the Nucleus multichannel cochlear prosthesis in Melbourne. Scores on a number of different assessments are available at approximately six month intervals following implantation for these children. The group represents an unselected sample of cochlear implant users, as all children were included if they had sufficient developmental skills to perform formal speech perception tests. Information was also collected on each child regarding type of hearing loss, age of onset of profound hearing loss, duration of profound hearing loss, age at implantation, pre and post-implant communication mode, developmental delay, speech processing strategy and length of experience with implant use.
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    Application of the cochlear implant to profoundly hearing impaired adolescents: re-visiting the inclusion criterion for older children
    DETTMAN, SHANI ; Latus, Katie ; Cosson, Liz ; Dowell, Richard C. ; Clark, Graeme M. ( 2000)
    Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the range of outcomes for older children receiving the multi-channel cochlear implant. Recent improvements in the speech perception performance for profoundly hearing impaired children and adults have lead to expanded selection criterion for cochlear implant inclusion. That is, the efficacy of cochlear implants for adults with acquired hearing loss is well documented. In addition, the application of the cochlear implant to young children has lead to improvements in open set speech perception, speech production and language acquisition. In contrast, congenitally deaf and prelingually deafened children who are implanted after the age of 8 years have performed poorer than children implanted at a younger age on speech perception, speech production and psychophysical performance measures.
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    Speech perception in noise with cochlear implant and hearing aid for implanted adolescents
    DETTMAN, SHANI ; Latus, Katie ; Cosson, Liz ; Dowell, Richard C. ; Clark, Graeme M. ( 2000)
    Objective. To describe the open set speech perception performance for 8 congenitally deaf adolescents who use a multichannel cochlear implant and behind-the ear hearing aid as their 'everyday listening' condition. Expanded indication for cochlear implant inclusion has lead to the implantation of a number of persons with severe to profound hearing loss. It has been suggested that persons who have some residual bearing are good candidates for the cochlear implant due to: the presence of more ganglion cells, prior auditory experience, pre-patterning of the auditory cortex or other factors, as yet unknown, such as language experience.
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    Speech perception in implanted children: effects of speech processing strategy and residual hearing
    Meskin, T. ; Rance, G. ; Cody, K. ; Sarant, J. ; Larratt, M. ; Latus, K. ; Hollow, R. ; Rehn, C. ; Dowell, R.C. ; Pyman, B. ; Gibson, W.P.R. ; Clark, Graeme M. ; Cowan, Robert S. C. ; Barker, E. J. ; Pegg, P. ; Dettman, S. ; Rennie, M. ; Galvin, K. (Mendoza Editor, 1997)
    The ability of implanted children to adapt to different speech processing strategies has been demonstrated for the Nucleus implant system. Children previously experienced with the Multipeak speech processing strategy. were able to gain significant improvements in consonant, word and sentence perception using the Speak speech processing strategy. suggesting some degree of neural plasticity in neural-auditory coding. Of 192 implanted children with different degrees of preoperative residual hearing, 65% were found to obtain significant scores on open-set speech materials using electrical stimulation alone. Those children with more residual hearing had a greater probability of achieving open-set understanding and at a minimum level, perceived high frequency consonant information which would not have been available through conventional hearing aids.
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    Speech perception benefits for children using the 22-channel Melbourne/cochlear hearing prosthesis [Abstract]
    Sarant, J.Z. ; Hollow, P.W. ; Clark, Graeme M. ; Dowell, Richard C. ; Cowan, Robert S.C. ; Pyman, B. C. ; Dettman, S. J. ; RANCE, GARY ; Barker, Elizabeth J. ( 1993)
    In 1985; the first child was implanted with the Cochlear 22-channel cochlear prosthesis at the University of Melbourne Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital Cochlear Implant Clinic. There are now 42 children who have received the device in Melbourne. Analysis of patient details for these children show a very heterogeneous group, with a wide range in age, hearing thresholds, duration of deafness and aetiology. The major aetiologies found were either a congenital profound deafness.; or a hearing loss due to meningitis. In all but 3 cases, the children are using 15 or more electrodes in the array. Speech perception benefits have been analyzed according to a six-level hierarchical classification scheme. All of-the children achieved a minimum benefit of discrimination of suprasegmental information (Category 2), and 59% of the children achieved open-set understanding of unfamiliar speech material without the aid of lip-reading (Categories 5 & 6). Detailed analysis suggests that the majority of children achieving open-set speech perception benefits had more than one year of experience with their implant. and less than seven years of profound deafness prior to implantation.