Publications by authors named "Kara J Schneider"
Hypothesis: As a result of COVID-19 lockdowns and the associated effects on the auditory-social environments of cochlear-implant (CI) users, we expected that adult CI users would report a decrease in real-world communication abilities, a decrease in social isolation, and a decrease in quality of life (QOL) from pre- to post-pandemic.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes to the environments in which adults with CIs interact and communicate. However, the impact of these changes on CI users' real-world functioning is not well understood.
Objective: Explore the effects of hearing loss on social life and identify residual social life deficits that remain after cochlear implantation.
Study Design: Retrospective review of prospectively obtained data.
Setting: Tertiary care adult neurotology center.
Hypotheses: 1) Scores of reading efficiency (the Test of Word Reading Efficiency, second edition) obtained in adults before cochlear implant surgery will be predictive of speech recognition outcomes 6 months after surgery; and 2) Cochlear implantation will lead to improvements in language processing as measured through reading efficiency from preimplantation to postimplantation.
Background: Adult cochlear implant (CI) users display remarkable variability in speech recognition outcomes. "Top-down" processing-the use of cognitive resources to make sense of degraded speech-contributes to speech recognition abilities in CI users.