Acquisition of speech, pre- and post-cochlear implantation: longitudinal studies of a congenitally deaf infant

This paper details the process of speech acquisition by the first British, congenitally deaf infant (without additional handicaps) to be fitted with a multi-channel cochlear implant. The infant's phonologic and phonetic level development using, firstly, acoustic hearing aids and, secondly, a cochlear implant, is thoroughly detailed by use of video- and audio-recorded data, taken at weekly intervals and across a variety of contexts. The paper examines the benefit of early implantation for spoken language development and notes the utility of Ling's model of speech acquisition for the habilitation of young, congenitally deaf implant recipients.