The Buckeye Center for Hearing and Development investigates the cognitive, linguistic and social mechanisms that contribute to successful spoken language outcomes in infants and toddlers who are deaf/hard of hearing and have received a cochlear implant. The team uses cutting-edge eye-tracking technology to monitor infant and toddler response to sights and sounds in controlled laboratory settings, during free-play interactions and during natural interactions at home.
Our objectives
Our lab aims to make discoveries that will provide knowledge and skills to parents of children with hearing loss, helping the children thrive in their language and educational outcomes. A short-term goal is disseminating discoveries to parents. A long-term goal is meeting the needs of these parents by conducting research in collaboration with them and other stakeholders.
Our team
- Carrie Davenport, PhD
- Sophia Nichols, MA, SLP-CCC
- Molly Cooke
Notable achievements
- Determined that the age in which children receive cochlear implants impacts not only their hearing, but also their ability to associate what they hear with what they see (e.g., learn new words).
- Determined that deafness not only affects auditory and language processes, but also basic cognitive processes measured in the visual modality.
- Determined that caregivers’ ability to coordinate behavior with a child’s is affected by the child’s hearing status.
Current clinical trials, research studies and support
Project title: Children’s Hearing and Language Development Resource Network (CHLDRN) of Ohio Community Collaborative
Funding: Oberkotter Foundation
Objective: Build a community collaborative to explore strengths and opportunities for improvement of early hearing detection and intervention services for families in Ohio.
Project title: Infant-directed speech and language development in infants with hearing loss
Funding: R01 | NIH/NIDCD
Objective: Address gaps in knowledge by investigating how the quantity and quality of speech and language in the home helps normal-hearing and hearing-impaired infants learn new words and develop language.
Project title: Parent-child interactions and word learning in young deaf children with cochlear implants
Funding: R01 | NIH/NIDCD
Objective: Investigate the real-time mechanisms of parent-child social interactions in deaf children with cochlear implants and how these interactions facilitate (or hinder) word learning and language outcomes.