Assessing Speech Perception and Amplification Benefit During Infancy

The goal of this project is to compare aided and unaided speech discrimination among infants with hearing loss and a cohort of infants with typical hearing.Working Hypothesis: Among this group of infants with hearing loss, performance will be significantly better when infants are tested while using amplification (i.e., aided condition) compared to when tested without amplification (i.e., unaided condition). Infants fit with optimally programmed amplification will perform similarly to the infants with typical hearing on speech discrimination tasks.

Inclusion Criteria:Children between the ages of 6 months and 36 months (inclusive) at the time of enrollment.English is the primary spoken language in the homeDemonstrated ability to complete a conditioned head turn via visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA)If normal hearing-Normal hearing sensitivity bilaterallyIf Hearing LossChildren with diagnosis of bilateral sensorineural hearing ranging from mild to severeChildren currently using hearing aidsChildren currently enrolled in interventionExclusion Criteria:Children born earlier than 35 weeks gestationChildren with abnormal tympanometry on the day of testingChildren with concerns of secondary disabilitiesChildren with Auditory NeuropathyConcerns of hearing loss in normal hearing children