Some neuromyths concerning the effectiveness of cochlear implants: Inferring function from dysfunction

Abstract

Cochlear implants provide profoundly deaf infants and young children with access to critical temporal and spectral patterns of speech needed for language development. Despite the enormous benefits of cochlear implants, many controversial questions remain. I will consider ten pressing issues that are the focus of current efforts in the field: (1) individual variability in speech and language outcomes, (2) neuroplasticity and early implantation, (3) learning and linguistic experience, (4) linguistic vs indexical channels in speech perception, (5) bilateral vs. unilateral implantation, (6) Contribution of other neural and cognitive systems, (7) early predictors of outcomes and risk factors, (8) workload and mental effort, (9) speech in noise, and (10) acoustic simulations in normal-hearing listeners. These issues raise important theoretical questions about basic processes in speech perception and spoken language processing. Cochlear implant research may be viewed as a “model system” enabling inferences about normal function from the study of dysfunction providing additional converging support for the proposal that the ear does not function in isolation from the rest of the brain; it is an inseparable component of a complex adaptive self-organizing system that evolved to support the perception and production of spoken language. [Work supported by NIH Grants: R01 DC-XYZ and DC-ABC to Indiana University.]