The Impact of Cochlear Implant on Vocabulary Knowledge with Students

Children with profound congenital hearing fail to gain access to sound until the cochlear implantations are supported. This usually takes at least 12 months. These students will not be able begin learning spoken language, and listening for at least one year. Their abilities to listen and learn spoken language is delayed by year compared to their peers. These students, however, do not have language-learning deficit that will delay the rate at which they acquire vocabularies as their peers. However, there is an indication that that may not be the case. They may not develop vocabulary knowledge at the same rate as their normal peers. Those who received cochlear implants at an early age are likely to gain vocabulary knowledge at the same rate as those of their peers with typical hearing.

Studies in both countries show that receptive growth of vocabulary for children with CIs aged 5-8 years studying at an auditory-oral school indicate normal performance for those who received their implants at the age of 2 years or less. At the age of six, these children may achieve standard mean score range on vocabulary measures. These children also should not be expected to develop vocabulary knowledge like those without hearing impairments. Deaf children with cochlear implants enjoy benefits resulting from enhanced hearing that the technology provides both directly and indirectly. However, CIs does not facilitate hearing sufficiently, and for that reason, they do not allow deaf children to access languages or other environmental information. The children with these implants do not out-perform their peers who do not have them in word or world knowledge.