ABSTRACT
Multichannel cochlear implantation has been a viable option for providing
access to sound for children with bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss
for over twenty years. A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted
prosthesis which bypasses damaged structural or functional abnormalities of the
cochlea to provide electrical stimulation of remaining neural elements in the
cochlea and auditory nerve. This electrical stimulation leads to a percept of
sound. However, hearing through a CI is highly compromised in terms of
temporal and frequency resolution, as well as dynamic range of the input signal
(Wilson, 1997). Despite these compromises, there is considerable evidence that
children can use this signal to develop speech, oral language, and reading skills
(Geers, 2003; Spencer, Barker, & Tomblin, 2003; Svirsky, Robbins, Kirk, Pisoni,
& Miyamoto, 2000).
