Schön Daniele

Improving linguistic skills in children with hearing loss through new speech and language therapy.

Project status: closed

Hearing loss causes abnormal language development. Several types of speech and language therapy are available to people with hearing loss but only a small number of them have solid scientific bases. Little is known about how and when this sort of intervention is effective.

With this research project, Dr. Daniele Schön proposes to study two types of therapy for children aged 4-6 with hearing loss: exposure to musical rhythms and rhythm exercises. He will evaluate the extent to which the children’s linguistic skills are stimulated. At the same time, their brain activity will be recorded by electroencephalogram for each type of therapy tested.

This work will provide a better understanding of the role played by rhythm in the linguistic skills of children with hearing loss. This will pave the way for the development of applied research in language therapy and the design of improved rehabilitation.

If proven, the benefits of rhythm training could improve well-being for children with hearing loss.

Doctor Daniele Schön
Research Director
Systems Neuroscience Institute, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France

Related scientific publication(s):

Céline Hidalgo, Jacques Pesnot-Lerousseau, Patrick Marquis, Stéphane Roman, Daniele Schön. Rhythmic Training Improves Temporal Anticipation and Adaptation Abilities in Children With Hearing Loss During Verbal Interaction. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2019 Sep 20;62(9):3234-3247. doi: 10.1044/2019_JSLHR-S-18-0349. Epub 2019 Aug 21.
Jacques Pesnot Lerousseau, Céline Hidalgo, Daniele Schön. Musical Training for Auditory Rehabilitation in Hearing Loss. J Clin Med. 2020 Apr 8;9(4):1058. doi: 10.3390/jcm9041058.
Céline Hidalgo, Annabelle Zécri, Jacques Pesnot-Lerousseau, Eric Truy, Stéphane Roman, Simone Falk, Simone Dalla Bella , Daniele Schön. Rhythmic Abilities of Children With Hearing Loss. Ear Hear. Mar/Apr 2021;42(2):364-372. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000926.
Jacques Pesnot Lerousseau, Agnès Trébuchon, Benjamin Morillon, Daniele Schön. Frequency Selectivity of Persistent Cortical Oscillatory Responses to Auditory Rhythmic Stimulation. J Neurosci. 2021 Sep 22;41(38):7991-8006. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0213-21.2021. Epub 2021 Jul 22.
Jacques Pesnot Lerousseau, Daniele Schön. Musical Expertise Is Associated with Improved Neural Statistical Learning in the Auditory Domain. Cereb Cortex. 2021 Oct 1;31(11):4877-4890. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhab128.
Jacques Pesnot Lerousseau, Céline Hidalgo, Stéphane Roman, Daniele Schön. Does auditory deprivation impairs statistical learning in the auditory modality? Cognition. 2022 May;222:105009. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.105009. Epub 2022 Jan 6.