Better Diagnosis of Infant Hearing Loss for Better Language and Learning Outcomes

About one in three children with cochlear implants have poor speech understanding and suffer delayed language development.

These infants can’t tell their audiologist that their hearing devices aren’t working so the problem goes undiagnosed until much later in life – when it is too late.

Professor Colette McKay at the Bionics Institute in Melbourne is using a technique called functional near-infrared spectroscopy or fNIRS to see how the brain responds to hearing inputs through the use of light sources and detectors which are placed in a cap on the head. Her goals are to better understand how infants’ brains respond to their hearing device and to tailor the device to their individual needs.

Professor McKay has plans to develop a new clinical system, EarGenie™, for personalised management of hearing impairment that aims to optimise language development

Read more via the Bionics Institute.