Foreign Language Acquisition in Adolescent Cochlear Implant Users.
Marita K Everhardt, Dorit Enja Jung, Berrit Stiensma and 3 others
PMID 37747307WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with cochlear implants matched hearing peers on written English tasks but scored significantly lower on listening.
Their Dutch skills were unaffected. Written tests alone may miss listening difficulties, so assess both modalities to guide support.
Key findings
01Adolescent CI users performed similarly to hearing peers on English reading and gap-fill tasks but significantly worse on English listening tasks.
02CI users and hearing peers performed similarly in their native Dutch language across both listening and reading tasks.
03No significant differences were found between groups on cognitive tasks, suggesting foreign language listening difficulties are likely due to auditory degradation rather than cognitive factors.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was very small (8 CI users, 7 controls), limiting the generalizability of the findings. The CI users were older (mean 15.5 years) and had more years of English instruction (mean 4.0 years) than the hearing controls (mean 13.4 years, mean 2.6 years), which could have advantaged the CI group in language tasks. Testing took place in participants' homes rather than soundproof rooms, which may have affected auditory task thresholds. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if listening skills improve over time with more experience or training.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by a non-U.S. government grant.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that normal hearing peers and CI users have comparable cognitive abilities based on this small sample, or that written language performance reflects overall language competence. The similar cognitive scores may be due to the selection of high-functioning participants, and the matching written scores hide significant listening deficits in the foreign language.