Graeme Clark Collection
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ItemIssues in the development of multichannel tactile devices for hearing-impaired children and adults( 1995)Levitt, Pickett and Houde (1980), in their landmark monograph, noted that the history of tactile aid development has been characterized by periodic bursts of enthusiasm and research, often culminating in identification of new avenues to be explored for improving tactile perception of speech. While several research groups have maintained long-term interest in tactile research (Boothroyd, 1985; Oller, Payne, & Gavin, 1980; Saunders, 1985), there was a marked increase in reports of new multichannel tactile devices during the 1980s (reviewed in McGarr, 1989). This upsurge may have been spurred in part by the rapid increase world-wide in the number of hearing-impaired children and adults using cochlear implants as everyday communication devices, and the perceived need for a non-surgical approach to assisting hearing-impaired children. Despite this increase in tactile research, no tactile device has yet achieved widespread commercial use by the hearing-impaired community. It is, therefore, of interest to question why cochlear implants have been more widely accepted than tactile devices.
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ItemArticulation accuracy of children using an electrotactile speech processor( 1995)Objective: Use of wearable tactile speech perception devices is suggested to help overcome the difficulties in speech production resulting from severe and profound hearing impairment in children. This suggestion is based on the assumption that subjects can use tactile input in isolation, or in combination with information from residual aided hearing, to monitor and modify their speech. The present study evaluated the benefits to articulation provided through use of a multichannel electrotactile device (“Tickle Talker™”). Design: Six profoundly hearing-impaired children were videotaped speaking with the Tickle Talker on and with the Tickle Talker off during conversations with their audiologist. Five of the subjects also wore their binaural hearing aids during all recorded conversations. The number of vowels, consonants, and overall phonemes correctly articulated by each child in the two conditions were compared. Results: One subject improved articulation of initial consonants and initial phonemes; one subject improved articulation of total vowels, total consonants, initial consonants, total phonemes, and initial phonemes; and a third subject improved articulation of total vowels and medial phonemes. Conclusions: Use of on-line tactile feedback from the Tickle Talker may benefit the articulation accuracy of some children, and the device may therefore be suitable to use with children who have not responded to more traditional speech training techniques.
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ItemThe progress of children using the multichannel cochlear implant in Melbourne( 1995)Multi-channel cochlear implantation in children began in Australia in 1985 and there are now close to 4000 profoundly deaf children and adolescents using the Australian implant system around the world. The aim of the implant procedure is to provide adequate hearing for speech and language development through auditory input. This contrasts with the situation for adults with acquired deafness where the cochlear implant aims to restore hearing for someone with well-developed auditory processing and language skills. As with adults, results vary over a wide range for children using the Multi-channel implant. Many factors have been suggested that may contribute to differences in speech perception for implanted children. In an attempt to better understand these factors, the speech perception results for children implanted in Melbourne were reviewed and subjected to statistical analysis. This has indicated that the amount of experience with the implant and the length of sensory deprivation are strongly correlated with perceptual results. This means that younger children are likely to perform better with an implant and that a number of years of experience are required for children to reach their full potential. The results have also indicated that educational placement and management play a crucial role in children reaching their potential. Overall, 60% of the children and adolescents in the study have reached a level of open-set speech understanding using the cochlear implant without lipreading.
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ItemSpeech self-monitoring by children using an electrotactile speech processor( 1995)For the profoundly and severely-to-profoundly hearing impaired child, lipreading and hearing aids are not always sufficient to develop adequate speech perception and production skills. Tactile devices have been investigated as a source of supplementary speech information, with most research focusing on speech perception benefits. However, speech production difficulties are also a major issue for these children, and research into tactile devices should include investigation of the option to use them as speech production aids. This paper will present the results from an initial examination of the suitability of one tactile device for speech production monitoring.
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ItemImproved electrotactile speech processor: Tickle Talker( 1995)The Tickle Talker, an eight-channel electrotactile speech processor, has been developed from continuing research at the University of Melbourne. 'The development of the device has focused on production of reliable speech-processing hardware, design of cosmetically and ergonometrically acceptable electrode transducers, implementation of acute and chronic biomedical studies demonstrating device safety, design and testing of alternative speech-encoding strategies to provide benefit to speech perception and production, and design and testing of appropriate training methods for optimizing benefits. The Tickle Talker has been shown to provide benefits in supplementing lipreading or aided residual hearing for hearing-impaired adults and children. Improvements in speech processing have resulted in an increase in benefits to speech perception, and open the way for more flexible approaches to encoding speech input. Continuing development of the electrode circuitry has now produced a device that is robust and has an extended battery life. Safety studies have clearly demonstrated that there are no long-term contraindications to device use. The results suggest that the device has a role to play in rehabilitation programs for severely and profoundly hearing-impaired adults and children.
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ItemCochlear implants for congenitally deaf adolescents: is open-set speech perception a realistic expectation?( 1994)The prognosis for benefit from use of cochlear implants in congenitally deaf adolescents, who have a long duration of profound deafness prior to implantation, has typically been low. Speech perception results for two congenitally deaf patients implanted as adolescents at the University of Melbourne/Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital Clinic show that, after 12 months of experience, both patients had significant open-set speech discrimination scores without lipreading. These results suggest that although benefits may in general be low for congenitally deaf adolescents, individuals may attain significant benefits to speech perception after a short period of experience. Prospective patients from this group should therefore be considered on an individual basis with regard to prognosis for benefit from cochlear implantation.
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ItemCochlear implants in children, adolescents, and prelinguistically deafened adults: speech perception( 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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ItemCochlear implants in children, adolescents, and prelinguistically deafened adults: speech perception( 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.