Included

in this issue:

• Good news for

Med-El recipients

• Helpful Websites

• Music & your

Cochlear Implant

• Speech Sounds

• Student

Contribution

Hello everyone,

This is our 4th

edition of the “Wired for Sound” Newsletter. As Paula

mentioned before, this is an ideal opportunity to share your experiences.

Please forward us some ‘good news’ stories, comments and ideas.

Paula Schneider will be returning to the WAIDE Implant office after the July

school holidays. We are looking forward to welcoming Paula back following

her long service leave.

REMINDER TO APPLY FOR CP 810 UPGRADES

The CP 810 upgrade is available for Nucleus 24 recipients. If you have not

completed the paperwork to apply for an upgrade, please contact us for an

appointment as soon as possible, as there is a long waiting list for upgrades

through Australian Hearing. It is important to get your child’s name on the

waiting list as soon as possible.

CLINICAL RESULTS WITH THE COCHLEAR NUCLEUS 5 SOUND PROCESSOR

FOR NUCLEUS 24 IMPLANT RECIPIENTS

This is the 4th

sound processor upgrade since the late 1990’s for this

generation of implant users. Clinical studies have been undertaken to

investigate outcomes of the Nucleus 5 Sound Processor for adult and

paediatric users upgrading from the Sprint, Esprit, 3G or Freedom

processors.

-Results indicated that children showed a significant improvement in speech

understanding scores in noise with the Nucleus 5 Sound Processor over their

existing devices.

-80% of paediatric users significantly improved their understanding in noise

using dual-microphone technology, with most preferring to use the Nucleus

5 default Noise program in noisy situations.

-Adults and paediatric users reported high levels of satisfaction with the CP

810 Sound Processor and CR 110 Remote Assistant.

Arrangements for the Winter school holidays:

Should you encounter any cochlear device problems, or require an

appointment for mapping during the July school holidays, please feel free to

contact me. I will be available on most of the Mondays and Fridays during

the school holidays.

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays I can be contacted at the Ear

Science Institute at the following telephone number: (08) 6380 4944

Ronel Chester-Browne (Implant Audiologist)

MedMedMedMed----El released a new smaller battery pack, the OPUS 2XS.El released a new smaller battery pack, the OPUS 2XS.El released a new smaller battery pack, the OPUS 2XS.El released a new smaller battery pack, the OPUS 2XS.

Every MED-EL CI recipient who ordered a MED-EL cochlear implant from January 1st 2011 January 1st 2011 January 1st 2011 January 1st 2011 until Friday 20th April 2012Friday 20th April 2012Friday 20th April 2012Friday 20th April 2012 receives a free of charge XS extension kit. Please contact your audiologist for further information. The new OPUS 2XS is the ideal choice for children where its enhanced insulation makes it extra resistant to dirt, dust and sweat. Developed for small ears, the OPUS 2XS is 10mm shorter and 25% lighter than the OPUS 2 with the standard battery pack, so that it fits children’s ears comfortably and safely.

We would appreciate contributions from parents regarding outstanding achievements your child may have attained in areas of endeavour. EG: sporting, academic, hobbies, interests that you would like to share in the kids contribution section of the newsletter. If you would like us to

list your son or daughter’s special achievement please email WAIDE on : tiffany.pinkerton@education.wa.edu.au

Known by her five grandchildren and six great grandchildren as Nanna-Dear, Mrs Rose Di Stefano, a lively lady of 98 from

Attadale, has become WA’s most senior recipient of a cochlear implant at the ESIA Implant Centre. Rose’s reaction to her

implant was instant.

“At switch on she could hear properly in her left ear for the first time in over 20 years. Mum had the biggest grin on her

face - one I will never forget!” said her daughter Angela.

Since arriving in Australia from Italy at the age of five, Rose has enjoyed a long and healthy life. But at age 75 her hearing started

to fail and when her hearing aids became ineffective she decided to do something about it.

“I love communicating clearly with my family. I hated missing out on things before. I enjoy politics and watching parliament on

TV and I can now listen to it at normal volume.” says Rose.

Gemma Ivey, Rose’s audiologist from the ESIA Implant Centre Australia, said “Rose has been a model patient with no complaints.

I don’t think she realises how remarkable she is. When a person’s ear has not heard sound for a long time it can sometimes take

quite a while for the brain to recognise sounds again, but Rose has taken everything in her stride.” said Gemma.

ESIA Director, Professor Atlas, who was Rose’s surgeon says, “Rose is a wonderful example of the determination and bravery

that I see in my cochlear implant patients every day. It is exciting that we can show our respect to this generation by helping

with this modern technology.”

Rose reconnects with help from the ESIA Implant Centre

An excellent website for teenagers and young adults to improve their

listening skills: http://hope.cochlearamericas.com/sound-way-beyond

CAP THAT! Helps Australian teachers boost literacy and inclusion with

captions: http://www.capthat.com.au/about-captions

This site has been on-line for nearly ten years & includes a collection of freely available materials. It

has a reputation for being “golden”: http://www.speakingofspeech.com/

This site includes more than 400 language worksheets and activities: http://freelanguagestuff.com/

Gamequarium: http://www.gamequarium.com/

Primary Resources: http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/english.htm

Kids Online Resources: http://www.kidsolr.com/

Awesome Library: http://www.awesomelibrary.org/

Free Education Worksheets: http://www.education.com/worksheets/

Making Learning Fun: http://www.makinglearningfun.com/

English Exercises: http://www.englishexercises.org/

Teach the Children Well: http://www.teachthechildrenwell.com/

It is important to remember that CI recipients have a severe-to-profound sensorineural

hearing loss with physiological changes in the cochlea, so that “normal hearing” of music is

not a realistic expectation.

Do music test results correlate with age implantation, duration of hearing loss, newer or

older hardware or software?

There is not enough research yet for children. In adults, younger implant recipients tend to

do better than older, previous or ongoing use of a hearing aid is helpful, and “duration” is

positive in the context of time spent post-implant listening to music. It is difficult to

compare different speech processing strategies or hardware variations across different

manufacturers devices because of the need to eliminate the effect of other variables

across the many recipients required for valid testing.

Does practising listening improve music test results?

Undoubtedly yes, despite the fact that current sound processing is not optimal for music.

Incidental exposure to music is not enough. Focussed music listening or specific music

training programs are required. Such listening techniques continue to be developed. More

immediate advice is to listen to music which was familiar prior to implantation. It is also

useful to listen with accompanying lyrics which you can do on YouTube.

Don’t give up too soon—you may have to listen to the same song 10 times before the brain

makes the connection with your previous musical memory. Music tools for adults and

children recognise that adults tend to be rediscovering music, while children are often

exploring it for the first time.

Listening Preference of Infants

Humans may be born with a bias for listening to speech, but not

necessarily human vocalisations. In a study by Athena Vouloumanos and

colleagues in an issue of Child Development, 30 neonates and 16 3-month-

old infants listened to nonsense speech and rhesus monkey vocalisations.

The neonates showed no preference for human speech over monkey

vocalisation, but preferred human speech. At birth, neonates initially

prefer vocalisations from humans or monkeys; these listening preferences

are sharpened over three months, yielding a species-specific preference

for listening to speech. For more information visit:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-8624

HOW SPEECH SOUNDS WORKS...

THE LISTENING-TALKING-READING CONNECTION

We learn to talk by saying what we hear and hearing what we say. This is termed the “auditory self-monitoring

loop” or “auditory feedback loop”. It is the avenue through which children develop sounds and learn the language

of their culture. Children who are deaf are capable of developing natural sounding voices and spoken language

when they learn speech through listening rather than looking.

A child’s ability to develop natural and intelligible speech is related to early detection and intervention, use of

appropriate and optimal technology such as cochlear implant(s), establishing a strong auditory foundation by

learning to listen, integrated sensory and motor systems, consistent exposure to spoken language, and parent or

caregiver participation.

With individualized modifications any child may benefit from Speech Sounds for remediation. The process and

materials may be helpful for older children who receive a cochlear implant(s); children who use sign language or

other visual systems to communicate.

Speech Sounds facilitates phonological awareness for reading as well as reading comprehension. Reading aloud to a

child on a daily basis strengthens the connection of listening and talking with reading.

PHONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

Speech Sounds is based on typical development where the normal progression is: vocal play, suprasegmentals,

vowels, and consonants. It encourages development at the phonetic level where a child imitates sounds or uses

echolalia, and sets the stage for a child to begin babbling.

SPEECH ACOUSTICS

Every speech sound has concentrations of acoustic energy called formants that make it different from other

sounds. Although the same sound is pronounced slightly differently based on the sounds that precede or follow it,

in general, the acoustic properties of a sound are consistent. Understanding of speech acoustics assists

professionals and parents in establishing realistic and systematic goals, reinforcing appropriate approximations of

speech, and optimizing a child’s auditory potential with the use of appropriate technology.

Hey guys my name is Joe Turner, I’m 13 and go to Trinity College. Perth. I have been living in Australia for four years.

I am from England. At the age of two I caught the disease meningitis and I was lucky to survive it because it was quite serious.

I don’t remember much about what it was like but I remember that I had an autographed football signed by all the West Ham

players of 2000. The disease had left me deaf. As I grew up with processors it was quite hard for me because I was so young

and found it quite annoying, but then I adjusted to it even though it was really hard. It was an old fashioned processor which

used batteries. You had to wear it around a belt. But I now wear two processors.

My first school I ever went to was one of the best I have ever been to. The name of the school was Woodlands in England. On

my very first day of school I felt as nervous as I ever did in my life like every kid would have, but as you know when it comes

to school everyone settles in. As the years went for me in Woodlands everything had changed and my implants had upgraded

which meant no more regular batteries and no more wearing it round the waist. It turned into a small device and I was six

when that happened and adjusted to it and was so happy about it.

When I came to Australia to live everything had changed for me because everything was different, the people, the weather,

the environment. Then again, just like I said earlier, I adjusted. I went to a new school and made new friends. That was when

I was younger and I had to use a device called the FM system. It was really good for me when I first got it but then when I was

at my new school in Australia it was annoying for me and I hated it. The reason why was because the teachers seemed to

forget I was wearing it and when the class got loud the teacher would yell. That is the most horrible feeling, its like someone

using a megaphone right against your ears.

Thank You! Joseph Turner

I avoided wearing it in year five to make it easier for me. When I went into year six I never gave the teacher the FM system

because my year six teacher Mr Fitz happened to be one of the most loudest people I have ever known. Every time he yelled

he would shake the room.

When I had finished primary school it was one of the greatest feelings of my life because I was finally going into high school.

The other reason was that on the last day all the girls were crying like they had just lost their teddies, but it was a really good

feeling.

Then it came to high school. I felt really relaxed and I knew why. It was because I had done heaps of things like this before,

new schools, interviews with teachers or the headmaster before I went to their school. It was all the same for me just this

time more boys. So it was easy for me talking to new guys, meeting new teachers and becoming part of Trinity College.

Sometimes the boys would get in a weird way and when they speak to me they say it really slowly. I didn’t take it as an

offence but I would get them back by saying, “whoa mate you got some speaking disability because your speaking really

slow” and they just step back knowing that they just got played.

So now I have completed year seven and have started year eight and already it is a great experience. I have just started

rowing and enjoying going out into the Swan River with my team mates.

Rowing at Trinity College has been a great experience to me because when I was first introduced to rowing by the head of the

rowing department we had to meet at the rowing shed and gym and to me I had never seen a school so determined in my

life. When I first stepped into the gym it was like a museum. There were pictures up on the wall from the past rowers and

there were trophy's and medals everywhere and boys getting ready to go out on the river. I had never seen so many boys so

determined for their school sport. It made me feel like I wanted to be like them, and that was what first encouraged me to do

rowing.

I was really happy because on the last day of year seven I had made the rowing team and now I spend Mondays, Wednesdays

and Fridays training in the rowing team and it is one of the best feelings in the world.