Babbling in early implanted CI children

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the onset of prelexical babbling (production of reduplicated CV syllables) of 10 deaf children who received a Nucleus-24 multichannel cochlear implant (CI) between 5 and 20 months of age. They were followed longitudinally by means of monthly video recordings consisting of spontaneous parent–child interactions. The results showed that the age at onset of babbling of the CI children implanted in the second half of their first year of life was within the normal range as established for normally hearing children. Children needed 1–4 months of exposure to sound in order to start babbling. In conclusion, early cochlear implantation appeared to be beneficial as measured by children's prelinguistic sound production. The earlier the implant was given, the smaller the delay was in comparison with normally hearing children with regard to the onset of prelexical babbling. © 2004, Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.