By Jean Thomas
The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, at 310 E. 14th St., has been awarded a five-year $2.5 million grant by the prestigious NIH-National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders. The grant will be used to fund a study, “Language Processing in Children with Cochlear Implants,” by Richard G. Schwartz, Ph.D., the director of the Language and Hearing Research Laboratory at the infirmary’s Ear Institute. Schwartz is also the Presidential Professor of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
The research will investigate how children with cochlear implants acquire language compared with their normal-hearing peers. Findings should help speech therapists working with very young children with cochlear implants optimize the way they learn speech and language.
The study will use control groups consisting of normal-hearing children who are ages 5 to 11 and children with cochlear implants who are ages 7 to 11. Families interested in being part of this study should contact Dr. Schwartz at 646-438-7838.
The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary Ear Institute is a comprehensive center focusing solely on diseases of the ear and related structures. Each division of the Ear Institute offers patients and their families comprehensive, timely and compassionate evaluation and management.
The Hearing and Learning Center is a world-renowned center of excellence for the diagnosis and management of children with hearing loss, particularly difficult-to-test children and children with associated problems. The Hearing and Learning Center is distinguished by its extensive Educator Liaison Program dedicated to assisting children with cochlear implants and/or hearing aids to succeed in mainstream schools.
The Cochlear Implant Center is one of the largest in the United States and implants children as young as 6 months and adults into their 90’s.
The infirmary’s Center for Hearing and Balance Disorders offers advanced diagnostic testing, state-of-the-art hearing aids and assistive-listening devices, and comprehensive balance therapy at the Center for Vestibular Rehabilitation.
If either your child or you need hearing care, contact the Ear Institute at 646-438-7800.
Thomas is director of public affairs, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary
