# How children with cochlear implants learn speech from their environments

> **NIH NIH F32** · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · 2022 · $69,072

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Children with cochlear implants are at risk of speech and language delays, performing worse than children
with normal hearing on virtually every measure of speech, language, and literacy. Children with typical hearing
have stronger speech-language outcomes when they hear more language in the home. But children with
cochlear implants spend the first months and years of life with little to no auditory input. It remains unclear how
the home language environment predicts their speech outcomes.
 The proposed experiments will evaluate how differences in the everyday language experiences of children
with cochlear implants predict their speech-language development. This research will produce evidence that can
guide clinicians and pediatricians in recommending at-home practices that promote healthy speech-language
development in children with cochlear implants. To accomplish these goals, the team will 1) measure how
production practice in children with cochlear implants predicts their spoken language maturity. The team
will do this by constructing a large-scale, naturalistic audio corpus to evaluate differences in the quantity of
speech that children with and without cochlear implants experience in the home (Experiment 1). It has been
suggested that the home language environments of children with hearing loss differ from those of children with
normal hearing, but little work has rigorously tested this for preschool children with cochlear implants. In piloting,
the research team found that children with cochlear implants heard less speech from adult speakers than their
normal-hearing peers, but they did not speak less than the children with normal hearing. Experiment 2 will
examine whether the early language environments of children with cochlear implants predict speech production
outcomes four months later, a relationship that the research team has documented for children with normal
hearing. Next, the team will 2) determine how the quantity of everyday vocalizations and adult input
predicts speech discrimination skills in children with cochlear implants. The team will do this by conducting
in-lab looking-while-listening eye movement experiments to evaluate discrimination difficulty of different
phonemic contrasts (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 then evaluates how a battery of measures from the language
environments of children with cochlear implants predict discrimination accuracy.
 Together, these studies innovatively respond to the question of how early language experience may improve
speech outcomes for children with cochlear implants. The combination of in-lab experimentation with naturalistic
portraits of children’s everyday learning environments will rigorously isolate which components of the home
environment are most beneficial for these children’s speech development. More broadly, results will characterize
the early language learning environment (adult input and self-auditory feedback) and demonstrate how early
auditory disruptions,...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10408681
- **Project number:** 5F32DC019539-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
- **Principal Investigator:** Margaret Emilyn Cychosz
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $69,072
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-06-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10408681

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10408681, How children with cochlear implants learn speech from their environments (5F32DC019539-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10408681. Licensed CC0.

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