Improvements in visual attention in deaf infants and toddlers after cochlear implantation

The aims of this study were to examine the development of visual attention in deaf and hearing infants and toddlers, and assess whether improvements in visual attention were observed in the deaf sample after 12 months of cochlear implantation. A novel puppet task, based on a measure of attention developed with normally hearing infants, was administered to 88 deaf and 42 normal-hearing children at three time points: baseline, six and 12 months post-implantation for the deaf sample. At baseline, deaf children demonstrated significantly more inattentive looks during the puppet skits than hearing children, and these looks were of longer duration, confirming the results of prior studies which have documented deficits in visual attention in deaf children. Longitudinal analyses showed significant decreases in the frequency of inattentive looks for both groups, with a significant decrease in the duration of inattentive looks only for the cochlear implant group. The largest decrease in duration of off-task looks o...