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Hearing Loss and Cochlear Implantation

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Research in Clinical Pragmatics

Part of the book series: Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology ((PEPRPHPS,volume 11))

Abstract

Research has shown that cochlear implants have become a popular option for many families who have young children with severe-to-profound hearing loss. Findings show that while improvements in spoken language outcomes for children and young people who use cochlear implants are evident, there are large individual differences in performance. Studies that investigate spoken language outcomes for children with hearing loss typically report results based on measures of receptive and/or expressive language or in the subsystems of syntax, semantics, morphology or phonology. There is less research that focuses on the social use of language, that is, the specific pragmatic skills that are challenging for children and young people with hearing loss. Further research is needed to detail the context in which children develop pragmatic competencies in order to inform clinical practice.

This chapter provides an overview of studies of pragmatic development in children who have cochlear implants. It is illustrated throughout with data from our own research. We detail the CONVERSATION model of intervention (adapted from Paatsch and Toe 2016) as a framework for highlighting current research and informing clinical practice. The aim is to demonstrate how research and practice can support pragmatic development in children with hearing loss.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, VIC, Australia

    Louise Paatsch & Dianne Toe

  2. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Amelia Church

Authors
  1. Louise Paatsch
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  2. Dianne Toe
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  3. Amelia Church
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Louise Paatsch .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Louise Cummings

Appendix: Transcription Conventions

Appendix: Transcription Conventions

The transcription conventions used in this chapter follow the original work of Sacks et al. (1974).

.

falling intonation

,

continuing intonation

?

rising intonation

¿

intonation that rises more than a comma but less than a question mark

:

lengthened syllable

↓

sharp fall in pitch

↑

sharp rise in pitch

[ ]

overlapping talk

( )

unintelligible stretch

(0.5)

length of silence in tenths of a second

(.)

a micropause (i.e. less than 0.2 of a second)

> <

increase in tempo

< >

stretched out or slower talk

hh

audible outbreath

.hh

audible inbreath

° °

passage of talk quieter than the surrounding talk

(( ))

description of accompanying behaviour

=

latched utterance, no discernible silence or pause

_

underlining indicates stress or emphasis

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Paatsch, L., Toe, D., Church, A. (2017). Hearing Loss and Cochlear Implantation. In: Cummings, L. (eds) Research in Clinical Pragmatics. Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47489-2_16

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