Researchers at Bowling Green State University are looking at the way mothers talk to their babies with cochlear implants and how those infants respond. They say most of these children are way behind their peers in their understanding of sounds because the implant distorts noise, making it difficult to for them to distinguish one from another. This makes their mothers' speech patterns very important. The researchers are also looking at whether mothers talk differently once they know the child has a hearing loss and how that may impact the baby. Some research suggests that mothers will change their speech patterns and this may impact a child’s learning ability.
The study is being conducted with the help of the Indiana University School of Medicine and a nearly $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
