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Updated: Jun 5, 2026
06:04
Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
Is there a hearing aid for the thinking person?
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
Journal of the American Academy of Audiology
|January 19, 2011
Summary
Understanding cognitive effects in hearing is crucial for auditory prosthesis success. Strategic listening impacts sound localization and speech-in-noise tasks, even with hearing aids.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Audiology
Background:
- Auditory prosthesis research historically focused on audibility (bottom-up processing).
- Emerging research highlights top-down processing, linking hearing aid success to cognitive factors like intelligence and language skills.
- The effort involved in daily listening is increasingly recognized as a key factor.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine cognitive effects in hearing, focusing on less-studied aspects.
- To illustrate how individual listening strategies can influence study interpretations.
- To demonstrate how shared attention measures can reveal functional effects of hearing aid algorithms.
Main Methods:
- Two case studies were employed.
- Cochlear implant patients participated in a binaural precedence effect (echo suppression) study.
- Individuals utilized noise reduction (NR) for speech-in-noise tasks, with outcomes assessed via verbal memory and visual reaction time tests.
Main Results:
- Individual listening strategies can lead to misinterpretation if not accounted for in research.
- Measures of shared attention identified previously unknown functional impacts of a hearing aid algorithm.
- Noise reduction improved speech-in-noise performance for individuals engaged in concurrent cognitive tasks.
Conclusions:
- Auditory prosthesis studies should incorporate complex, naturalistic stimuli and cognitive strategies.
- Factors beyond audibility, such as familiarity, syntax, and semantics, are vital.
- Strategic listening significantly influences performance in tasks like sound localization and speech-in-noise recognition, even under cognitive load.
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