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Neural Prediction to Enhance Language Outcomes in Children with Cochlear Implant

Award Number: R01DC019387
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/05/2022
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2027

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Neural Prediction to Enhance Language Outcomes in Children with Cochlear Implant - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Although cochlear implantation (CI) is the most effective method for managing severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss, children with CI as a group perform at about 15th percentile of their normal-hearing peers on language measures. Most intriguingly, their language outcomes are highly variable at the individual level, despite implantation at a young age. Using pre-surgical brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, done as part of the routine clinical evaluation, as well as AI-enabled analytical methods, our research will construct neural predictive models to forecast individual-level language outcomes in English- and Spanish-learning children up to 4 years after surgery. The clinical utility of these models will also be evaluated by investigating the extent to which the models' prediction is associated with the degree to which a child responds to a program of intensive communication treatment. We hypothesize that during the 4 years immediately after surgery, young children with CI follow three stages of language development: 1) global attention to spoken language as the child acclimatizes to electric auditory input about language, 2) encoding of phonological patterns with sufficient information to develop auditory-based lexical representations, and 3) development of spoken language syntax to communicate orally in longer utterances. We also hypothesize that the integrity of brain networks associated with higher-order cognitive, auditory and syntactic processing differentially contributes to language outcomes across these three stages in monolingual English-learning children with CI (Aim 1). We further hypothesize that these networks are largely invariant for typologically similar languages during the first stage, but that the contribution of the auditory network would be prolonged and require higher-order cognitive networks to an even greater extent to language outcomes for Spanish-English bilingual children with CI (Aim 2). As part of our current R21 project, we have developed a standardized clinical evaluation and follow-up protocol across different CI centers that will facilitate the investigations required to achieve Aims 1 and 2. Aim 3 concerns the interaction between neural prediction of outcomes and behavioral treatment. The main CI center of this project will enroll monolingual English-learning children for an intensive, Parent-Implemented Communication Treatment (PICT) program, which is the only treatment program to date whose effectiveness has been supported by a randomized controlled trial. We will evaluate whether neural prediction of language outcomes is inversely related to the degree of language gains from PICT. Specifically, we hypothesize that the more severe the predicted language impairment based on our neural predictive algorithms, the more the child could benefit from PICT. Our translational research program will advance the field of communication disorders in technological, theoretical and clinical innovations. It will be among the first to demonstrate that a predict-to- prescribe approach to holistically treat hearing loss is feasible, cost-effective and can lead to optimization of language outcomes of all children with CI.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $594,938 )
2026	2026	ANN & ROBERT H LURIE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OF CHICAGO	225 E CHICAGO AVE	CHICAGO	IL	60611	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	5	7/22/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$594,938
														Subtotal = $594,938

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $597,601 )
2025	2025	ANN & ROBERT H LURIE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OF CHICAGO	225 E CHICAGO AVE	CHICAGO	IL	60611	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	4	8/14/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$597,601
2025	2024	ANN & ROBERT H LURIE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OF CHICAGO	225 E CHICAGO AVE	CHICAGO	IL	60611	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	3	8/13/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $597,601

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $602,156 )
2024	2024	ANN & ROBERT H LURIE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OF CHICAGO	225 E CHICAGO AVE	CHICAGO	IL	60611	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	3	8/9/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$602,156
														Subtotal = $602,156

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $602,179 )
2023	2023	ANN & ROBERT H LURIE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OF CHICAGO	225 E CHICAGO AVE	CHICAGO	IL	60611	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	2	8/15/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$602,179
2023	2022	ANN & ROBERT H LURIE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OF CHICAGO	225 E CHICAGO AVE	CHICAGO	IL	60611	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	10/13/2022	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $602,179

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $698,895 )
2022	2022	ANN & ROBERT H LURIE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OF CHICAGO	225 E CHICAGO AVE	CHICAGO	IL	60611	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	8/3/2022	NEW	$698,895
														Subtotal = $698,895

Grand Total All Awards = $3,095,769

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Neural Prediction to Enhance Language Outcomes in Children with Cochlear Implant

Award Number: R01DC019387

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/05/2022

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2027

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