Understanding the mechanisms of multimodal communication in deaf children with cochlear implants

Cochlear implants (CIs) provide deaf children with access to sound, but they often struggle to hear in noisy situations and experience problems learning in classrooms and developing peer relationships. I aim to understand how children with CIs use visual information from the talker's face to supplement sound when communicating. I will track their eye movements to understand which areas of the face they use to perceive words and emotions, and whether these two processes interfere with each other. I will measure their ability to combine vision and sound together and if this eases the cognitive effort involved in communicating. I will also perform neuroimaging experiments that will allow me to understand whether their brain has adapted to help combine vision and sound to better support their communication. These studies will tell us how visual cues could be used with current sound-based therapy to help deaf children achieve their full potential.