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Updated: Jun 10, 2026
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Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
Cued speech for enhancing speech perception and first language development of children with cochlear implants
Jacqueline Leybaert1, Carol J LaSasso
1Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium.
Trends in Amplification
|August 21, 2010
Summary
Cued Speech, a visual-auditory system, can significantly improve speech perception for cochlear implant users, especially in noisy environments. This method enhances aural rehabilitation for individuals with hearing loss.
Area of Science:
- Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology
- Neuroscience of Communication
- Rehabilitation Medicine
Background:
- Hearing impairment affects millions globally, with significant socioeconomic and emotional consequences.
- Cochlear implants offer substantial benefits but provide spectrally degraded auditory signals, limiting optimal speech perception.
- Speech perception in normally-hearing individuals is multimodal, with variable weighting of auditory and visual cues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the multimodal nature of speech perception.
- To investigate the efficacy of audio-visual training using Cued Speech for cochlear implant (CI) users.
- To support the integration of Cued Speech into aural rehabilitation for CI recipients.
Main Methods:
- Review of research on multimodal speech perception.
- Analysis of Cued Speech as an audio-visual training method.
- Examination of studies on Cued Speech's impact on CI users' speech perception.
Main Results:
- Normally-hearing individuals exhibit inter-subject variability in auditory-visual speech cue weighting.
- Cued Speech training demonstrates potential to enhance speech perception in CI users, particularly in challenging (noisy) conditions.
- Five converging research areas support Cued Speech's benefit for CI recipients.
Conclusions:
- Cued Speech can be a valuable tool in the aural rehabilitation process for cochlear implant users.
- Pre- or post-implantation exposure to Cued Speech may be crucial for optimizing outcomes.
- Audio-visual training with Cued Speech can mitigate limitations of spectrally degraded signals from cochlear implants.
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