A University of Iowa faculty member will use funding from the National Institutes of Health to investigate how children with hearing loss could improve their processing of spoken language and their speech through long-term use of hearing aids.

Elizabeth Walker, director of undergraduate studies and associate professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, is a co-investigator on the project. 

She will collaborate with principal investigator Elizabeth Heinrichs-Graham, a neuroscientist at Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. 

Children with hearing loss may have a delay in processing spoken language, including vocabulary, grammar, and pragmatics — the facet of language use that deals with context. This is because sensory processing — how the brain responds to information gathered from hearing, sight, touch, and other senses — is the foundation for language and development. 

“Children with hearing loss have to recruit additional parts of the brain to perform at the same level on cognitive, linguistic, and sensory processing tasks as children with normal hearing who are the same age,” Walker says. “The brain needs to work harder, even when the task doesn’t involve hearing.” 

The study will examine how consistent use of hearing aids from an early age — typically for eight to 10 hours per day — supports a network of electrical and chemical activity in the brain representing behaviors, thoughts, and emotions — similar to those of children with normal hearing.

The testing with children will take place at Boys Town National Research Hospital, which is the primary research site. Researchers will measure brain activity using neuroimaging tools such as MEG and MRI. The team will observe children ages 7 to 15 as they participate in cognitive and sensory processing tasks, such as working memory tests. The tasks will show how well the children can store and retrieve information in their memory, allowing researchers to observe which parts of the brain are active during different stages of the task.

Walker’s role centers on language, cognitive, and behavioral factors, including understanding how differences in brain activity relate to language development and educational outcomes for children who are hard of hearing.

She hopes the study will improve training for audiologists, speech pathologists, and educators who work with children with hearing loss. The research also could lead to educational and intervention strategies, policies to provide better insurance coverage for hearing aids, and improved services for children in rural school districts.

The five-year award from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders is for $3.1 million. Walker will receive $140,465 through a contract subgrant.