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Biomedical subjects

M J Osberger

Publications and source records attributed to M J Osberger.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Longitudinal evaluation of communication skills of children with single- or multichannel cochlear implants.

Performance on speech perception, speech production, and language tests was measured over time in children who used the 3M/House or the Nucleus cochlear implant. The speech perception and production results demonstrated higher performance levels and faster rates of learning for the multichannel than for the single-channel users. The performance of the children with the single-channel implant on the speech perception and production measures reached a plateau by 1.5 years post implant, whereas the children using the multichannel device continued to show improvement after 2 or more years of implant use. Changes in language were limited over time with no obvious difference in performance as a function of type of implant.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1991

Independent evaluation of the speech perception abilities of children with the Nucleus 22-channel cochlear implant system.

The performance of 28 children with the Nucleus multi-channel cochlear implant, who had used the device an average of 1.7 yr, was examined on a battery of speech perception measures. All children demonstrated better speech perception skills with the implant than they had in the preimplant condition with hearing aids. With the Nucleus implant, 61% of the children demonstrated some open-set speech recognition and another 14% demonstrated closed-set speech recognition. Scores on the tests were corrected for guessing and a hierarchy of test difficulty was developed. The results revealed systematic differences in performance as a function of perception task and test format. The results of regression analyses, which were performed to identify predictors of success, showed that communication mode made a significant unique contribution to the variance in performance among subjects on an open-set word recognition test. When the scores of the children who used oral or total communication were compared on the full battery of tests, however, there were few significant group differences.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Effect of age at onset of deafness on children's speech perception abilities with a cochlear implant.

The speech perception abilities of 37 children with cochlear implants (single-channel or multichannel) were examined as a function of age at onset of deafness. There was no significant difference in the speech perception abilities of implanted children who were born deaf and those of implanted children who lost their hearing during the first 3 years of life. In contrast, the performance of children whose age at onset of deafness was 5 years or later was significantly better than that of the children with congenital or early-acquired deafness on tests of stress pattern categorization, closed-set word identification, open-set identification of common phrases, and lipreading enhancement.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1991

Comparison of speech perception abilities in deaf children with hearing aids or cochlear implants.

The speech perception abilities of deaf children with a single- or multi-channel cochlear implant are compared with those of deaf children who derive substantial benefit from conventional hearing aids. The children with hearing aids have unaided pure-tone thresholds ranging from 90- to 110-dB HL through at least 2000 Hz, and aided thresholds of 30- to 60-dB HL. The group data show that the speech perception scores of the subjects with hearing aids were significantly higher than those of the subjects with implants on a range of speech perception measures. Although a few subjects with implants achieved scores as high as those who used hearing aids, the majority did not. Even though the children with implants receive substantial benefit from their devices, they continue to have limited auditory perception abilities relative to their peers who derive benefit from conventional hearing aids. The data highlight the importance of establishing hearing aid benefit in potential candidates for implant.

Auditory Threshold↗
PubMed1991

Speech perception abilities of children with cochlear implants, tactile aids, or hearing aids.

The purpose of this experiment was first, to compare the performance of three matched groups of experimental subjects who used either a single-channel cochlear implant, a multichannel cochlear implant, or a two-channel vibrotactile aid on a battery of speech perception measures, and second, to compare the performance of subjects with residual hearing who used hearing aids to that of the three groups of experimental subjects. The results revealed that the subjects using hearing aids achieved the highest scores on all measures. The performance of the group of multichannel implant users was significantly higher than that of the single-channel implant users on tests involving discrimination of speech features, categorization of stress patterns, closed-set identification of familiar words, and identification of common phrases with and without visual cues. The performance of the subjects using 3M/House and Tactaid II devices was similar on all tests except those requiring integration of auditory or tactile cues and visual cues, on which the 3M/House device users achieved significantly higher scores than did the Tactaid II device users.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Analysis of the spontaneous speech samples of children with cochlear implants or tactile aids.

Analyses were performed on the spontaneous speech samples produced by profoundly hearing-impaired children who used the 3M/House single-channel cochlear implant (n = 7), the Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant (n = 7), or the two-channel tactile aid, the Tactaid II (n = 12). Speech recordings were obtained in the predevice condition, and after 6- and 12-months use. The speech of the children in the three experimental groups was compared to that of a control group of subjects who used a tactile aid inconsistently and received minimal speech training. Several new analysis procedures were developed to describe adequately the characteristics of the children's speech. The results revealed that all three experimental groups and the control group showed an increase in their production of sounds classified as English phonemes in the postdevice conditions. It was apparent at both the 6- and 12-months postdevice intervals that the most dramatic improvements were made by the users of the Nucleus device. The changes made by the Tactaid and 3M/House users were similar. The subjects with the Nucleus device also developed more diverse phonetic repertoires over time than did the other experimental subjects. More subjects with the Nucleus device acquired fricatives, liquids, glides, voiceless consonants, and high front vowels than did the subjects in the other groups. The subjects in the control group developed the most limited phonetic repertoires.

Auditory Threshold↗
PubMed1991

Initial findings with a wearable multichannel vibrotactile aid.

Data are presented on the speech perception performance of two profoundly hearing-impaired subjects while using a two-channel vibrotactile aid (Tactaid II) or a new, seven-channel instrument. Both subjects, one a profoundly hearing-impaired teenager and one a postlingually deaf adult, are experienced users of tactile aids. The data suggest better recognition of speech features, words, environmental sounds, and enhancement of lipreading skills with the new multichannel instrument than with the two-channel device.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Evaluation of a tactile aid and a cochlear implant in one child.

The speech perception and production skills have been examined in a young deaf child who used a tactile aid for 2.5 years and subsequently received a multichannel cochlear implant. Although the differences were small, there was a trend of higher performance on nearly all speech perception measures following implantation than was observed after 2.5 years of tactile-aid use. Negligible changes occurred in her speech while wearing the tactile aid but substantial improvements appeared after she had used the multichannel implant for only 6 months.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1991

Pediatric cochlear implant candidacy issues.

Children with progressive sensorineural hearing impairment represent a special challenge to the audiologist and the otologist. These are patients with some residual auditory abilities that deteriorate with time as the hearing loss progresses. No doubt, the unnecessary implantation of an ear that significantly benefits from amplification needs to be avoided at all costs. By the same token however, there appears to be no advantage to waiting an inordinate amount of time after the loss of functional auditory abilities before recommending implantation. At times when a complete loss is predictable, implantation may be advantageous before the onset of complete auditory deprivation. Steps the clinicians should take to manage these patients effectively are briefly summarized below: Implementation of rigorous and frequent audiologic monitoring. If, for instance, a significant progressive loss of hearing has occurred over a 6-month period, resulting in a complete absence of open-set speech recognition abilities in the auditory-alone mode with appropriate hearing aids, it is probably counterproductive to wait to the point of a complete absence of aided speech detection. Implantation at a critical point in time will prevent complete auditory deprivation. Parental counseling concerning various management strategies, such as use of vibrotactile devices, changing communication skills, and issues involving cochlear implants need to be undertaken early. Parents need to be involved in every phase of the evaluation process because they are the ones who make the final decision concerning the implantation of their child. Relatively early implantation should be considered in light of what is known concerning the effects of disruption in a child's linguistic, cognitive, and emotional development resulting from complete auditory deprivation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Auditory Threshold↗
PubMed1990

Performance of deaf children with cochlear implants and vibrotactile aids.

A longitudinal study is under way to examine the speech perception and production skills of deaf children who use a single- or multi-channel cochlear implant, or a two-channel tactile aid. The speech perception data showed that the majority of subjects who achieved the highest scores on a range of measures used the multi-channel cochlear implant. The production data showed that all three types of sensory aids were effective in promoting production skills, with the cochlear implant users showing the greatest gains in this area.

Child↗
PubMed1990

Audiological rehabilitation with cochlear implants and tactile aids.

Although a tremendous amount of information has been obtained about the benefits derived from implants and tactile aids during the last few years, many areas of research need to be addressed. Objective measures are needed to assess nerve survival in potential implant candidates, factors need to be identified that predict levels of implant performance, and extensive research needs to be conducted to identify methods to optimize fitting strategies with implants. To date, relatively few studies have examined the performance of clinical populations, especially profoundly hearing-impaired children, with sophisticated multichannel tactile aids. Further, it is not known what type of tactile transform provides the greatest improvements in performance. It appears as if learning effects extend over many years in pediatric users of implants and tactile aids, and it is crucial that longitudinal data be collected. Further, there is a need to document gains in speech perception and speech production skills when both hearing aids and tactile aids are used by profoundly hearing-impaired children who demonstrate residual hearing. As technology improves and new sensory aids become available, the need for continued research expands. Even in these early stages of investigation, both cochlear implants and tactile aids have proven effective in the rehabilitation of children and adults who are profoundly deaf.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Comparison of sensory aids in deaf children.

A speech perception hierarchy has been developed and applied to assess the influence of cochlear implants and tactile aids on the acquisition of auditory, speech, and language skills in deaf children. Encouraging improvements were noted with both types of sensory aids at the detection level. The House 3M and Nucleus cochlear implant designs appear to offer advantages over the Tactaid II in providing ancillary speech perception cues to deaf children. Preliminary observations suggest that the multichannel cochlear implant design may be superior to the single-channel coding scheme.

Auditory Threshold↗
PubMed1987

Phonetic development in identical twins differing in auditory function.

The subjects of this report are identical (monozygotic) twin boys who differ in auditory function. One has normal hearing; the other has a profound hearing loss bilaterally. These boys offered a rare opportunity to study the effects of hearing loss on vocal development with reasonable control over environmental and genetic factors. This initial report focuses on their vocal development over the sampled ages of 8, 12, and 15 months. Acoustic-phonetic differences in the babbling of the two boys were evident in the 8-month sample (the first recording opportunity), and some differences between them became greater over the succeeding samples at 12 and 15 months. The major differences were in the formant patterns of vocalic elements; the frequency of occurrence of fricatives, affricates, and trills; histograms of syllable type; and variation in vowel usage. The data hold implications for the early identification of infants at risk for communication disorder and for the understanding of auditory-motor processes in phonetic development during infancy.

Child Language↗
PubMed1987

Training effects on vowel production by two profoundly hearing-impaired speakers.

Two profoundly hearing-impaired adolescents received systematic speech training to improve their production of the vowels /i/ and /ae/. Acoustic measures of F1, F2, and duration, and listener judgements of vowel acceptability, were used to quantify vowel production before and after training. Both subjects demonstrated significant changes in their production of the two vowels at the acoustic and perceptual levels following treatment. The changes were highly individualized. For some features, significant improvement occurred posttreatment with differences between the hearing-impaired subject and a control group of subjects with normal hearing no longer present. There was a significant improvement in the acceptability of the two vowels in each subject's speech after training. Vowel duration remained unchanged in the speech of one subject whereas it increased in the speech of the other subject following training. There was a trend toward reduced token-to-token variation in the posttreatment samples. Acoustic and perceptual measures also were obtained on two vowels not directly trained in the program. Significant changes occurred in the production of these segments but some of the changes resulted in greater deviation in the post- than in the pretreatment samples.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Use of connected discourse tracking to train functional speech skills.

The connected discourse tracking procedure was adopted for use as a production training task for profoundly hearing-impaired children. A clinician served as the receiver and 5 children with profound hearing losses each served as the sender for 16 tracking sessions. There were individual differences among the children in their ability to convey the connected discourse to the clinician over time. The increase in comprehension of each subject's speech during the last session relative to the amount of information understood during the first session ranged from 0 to 48%. Two independent observers were used during the first and last sessions to verify the tracking results obtained by the clinician (the primary receiver). There were differences in words tracked per minute among the three receivers with the primary clinician achieving higher tracking rates than the other two. The children learned how to use discourse strategies when they were not understood and they were highly motivated by the task. The results indicate that it is feasible to incorporate the procedure in a speech training program for hearing-impaired children.

Adolescent↗