Over 300,000 people around the world have received cochlear implants (NIDCD, 2014). Research showing the importance of early intervention for children with hearing loss has led to children receiving the implants (CIs) earlier and earlier. However, by the time children are approved for the implant, have the surgery, and have the implant programmed, they can lose up to two years of hearing experience. This lost time puts children behind their normal-hearing peers in speech, language, and social development. After so much lost time, children need extra support to catch up to their hearing peers. A comprehensive auditory (re)habilitation program should include: regular visits to the clinic to work on tasks with the goal of improving listening …show more content…
Auditory (re)habilitation programs should include goals, such as attending to sound, auditory memory, learning meaning of sounds, discriminating between speech sounds, and spontaneous expressive communication. Auditory (re)habilitation programs have been demonstrated to help children with CIs better discriminate between the Ling sounds, which represent the spectral variety of all speech sounds and are used by hearing care professionals and educators to verify that a child 's CI is functioning properly (Wei et al, 2002). By providing auditory (re)habilitation services to children with CIs, we can help them better discriminate between these common speech sounds and improve their functional hearing ability beyond what it was with the CI alone. Auditory (re)habilitation can also help children make up for some of the time lost due to delayed implantation, in cases when early implantation is not possible (Zhou et al, 2013). / / References / / -National Institute on Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders (NIDCD). (2014, August 18). Cochlear