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Welcome to the Children's Auditory Perception Laboratory                               

Nearly 15% of children in the United States have a developmental disability, yet audiologists lack the appropriate behavioral assessment procedures to measure hearing in children with diverse or complex developmental profiles. The long-term goal of our current research is to improve hearing health care for children with developmental disabilities by transforming behavioral hearing testing methods. Our central hypothesis is that the inability to obtain accurate and reliable behavioral thresholds with current behavioral procedures reflects methodology limitations, not limitations of the child. By isolating factors that affect threshold we can develop rigorous methods that overcome the limitations of current clinical practices; thereby, improving hearing health care for children with developmental disabilities. We use a novel observer-based psychoacoustics procedure to evaluate methodological and child factors that are expected to affect behavioral data from 1.5- to 5-year-old children with different developmental status (Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, or typical development).

This research is significant because it will improve the clinical management of children with developmental disabilities by expanding the evidence base for best-practice clinical guidelines. This work will also lead to the development of improved behavioral methods for evaluating hearing in children with developmental disabilities, ensuring timely identification of hearing loss in this population. 

If you are interested in learning more about our research or participating in a study, please email us at childhear@colorado.edu or call 303-735-6252.

You can enter your information for current and future research studies .

ChAPL is under the direction of Dr. Angela Yarnell Bonino in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences.

For more information about our lab please see this .