Effects of early auditory deprivation on auditory-visual development

Abstract

Auditory perception does not develop in isolation. In typically developing infants, the auditory system develops integrally with other sensory and motor systems. This integrality is disrupted in deaf infants. Even those who gain access to sound through cochlear implantation undergo a period of auditory deprivation where the other sensory systems develop independently from audition before access to sound begins. In this presentation, I will report findings from several studies of infants and toddlers with cochlear implants where we have found that they perform more poorly on auditory-visual integration and association tasks (e.g., novel word learning) than normal-hearing peers. Moreover, longer periods of auditory deprivation correlate with poorer performance on auditory-visual association tasks. I will discuss the implications of these findings on sensitive period of language acquisition. I will also present preliminary results from a new study that is further exploring multi-modal integration and learning in hearing-impaired infants. We are using head-mounted cameras, eye trackers, and microphones to analyze multi-modal communicative interactions between infants with hearing loss and their parents during free play sessions. By investigating the dynamics between multi-modal input and interactive behavior, we hope to gain important insights into how impaired sensory integration affects communicative interactions and multi-modal learning.