Invited Lecturer: Genetic Screening to Establish Deafness Etiology, GJB2 and USH1 Richard J.H. Smith, M.D. Professor, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. Dr. Smith will discuss the importance of standardizing genetic testing for all children who will have a cochlear implant. He will focus on GJB2 (Connexin-26) and Usher syndrome type 1 (USH1), the two most common genetic causes for deafness. Invited Speaker: Ethics Thomas R. McCormick, DMin, Senior Lecturer Emeritus in Bioethics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Dr. McCormick will discuss Ethical issues that arise in the care of patients with cochlear implants that may challenge the ethical decision making skills of professionals involved in the care of such patients. This lecture identifies ethical conflicts and provides a framework for ethical reflection and reasoning that can be utilized by health care professionals in this field. Invited Speakers: Cochlear Implants in the Very Young Child Derek Houston, Ph.D., University of Indiana School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana. Dr. Houston will present research on speech perception and early language skills in hearing-impaired infants with cochlear implants and hearing aids and will discuss the implications of the findings on sensitive periods of language development. Michael P. Gorga, Ph.D., Director, Clinical Sensory Physiology Laboratory, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, Nebraska. Dr. Gorga will discuss the electrophysiological evaluation of very young children to accurately determine hearing thresholds and candidacy for cochlear implantation. Kelly Tremblay, Ph.D., CCC-A, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington. Dr. Tremblay will discuss neural plasticity of the central auditory system after stimulation with cochlear implants in young children. Christine Yoshinaga-Itano, Ph.D. University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado. Dr. Yoshinaga-Itano will address language development in children who received cochlear implants early in life and were followed longitudinally. She will relate this to her work in early hearing loss detection. Invited Speakers: Bilateral Cochlear Implants in Children Karen A. Gordon, Ph.D., University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. Dr. Gordon will discuss central auditory development and auditory processing with children using one versus two cochlear implants. Ruth Litovsky, Ph.D., Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison Wisconsin. Dr. Litovsky will address the scientific evidence to support the benefits of bilateral cochlear implants in children. She will also focus on the benefits of bilateral cochlear implants on how children adapt to the classroom environment with regard to performance in noise and sound localization. H. Steven Colburn, Ph.D., Director, Hearing Research Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University. Dr. Colburn will discuss the effects of hearing impairments on binaural abilities for speech intelligibility in complex sound environments. Jill B. Firszt, Ph.D., CCC-A, Director, Cochlear Implant and Electrophysiology Laboratory, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Firszt will discuss the effects of asymmetric hearing in children that occur when one ear is implanted, followed by later sequential implantation of the opposite deaf ear. Longitudinal studies will address the acquisition of auditory abilities in the second implanted ear using meaningful real-world measures and the implications for mapping and training approaches. Invited Speakers: Residual Hearing and Neural Preservation After Cochlear Implants in Children Benda Ryals, Ph.D., Director, Auditory Research Laboratory, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia. Dr. Ryals will provide an overview of our current understanding of the functional consequences of cochlear hair cell regeneration. Her talk will emphasize results obtained on the recovery of complex vocal perception and production after regeneration in small songbirds. Finally, results of experiments designed to determine the neural and behavioral consequences of hair cell regeneration in a small songbird with hereditary deafness will be discussed. Christopher Turner, Ph.D., Professor of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. Dr. Turner will discuss the impact of neural preservation in relation to combining electrical and acoustical hearing in the same ear in children and adults. Steven Green, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. Dr. Green will discuss molecular and cellular mechanisms to regulate neuronal survival in the auditory nerve. He will also describe the use of cochlear implant electrodes and other inner ear delivery systems to bring neural growth stimulators to the auditory system. Andy Groves, Ph.D. House Ear Institute (Soon to be relocated to Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas). Dr. Groves will present his data on the transformation of supporting cells in the scala media to hair cells. He will discuss the opportunity to guide regeneration with current steering with cochlear implant electrodes. Invited Faculty: Otology Thomas J. Balkany, M.D., University of Miami Howard Francis, M.D., Johns Hopkins University Bruce Gantz, M.D., University of Iowa Lawrence Lustig, M.D., University of California, San Francisco William M. Luxford, M.D., House Ear Clinic Richard Miyamoto, M.D., Indiana University John K. Niparko, M.D., Johns Hopkins University David S. Haynes, M.D., Vanderbilt University Craig A. Buchman, M.D., University of North Carolina Colin Driscoll, M.D., Mayo Clinic Invited Faculty: International Robert J .S. Briggs, M.D., University of Melbourne, Australia William P. Gibson, M.D., Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre, Australia Wolfgang Gstoettner, M.D., J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany Thomas Lenarz, M.D., Ph.D., University of Hannover, Germany Blake Papsin, M.D., Hospital for Sick Children, Canada Christopher Raine, M.D., Yorkshire Cochlear Implant Center, England Shakeel Saed, M.D., Manchester Royal Infirmary, England Tetsuya Tono, M.D., Miyazaki University, Japan Rolf Battmer, Ph.D., University of Hannover , Germany Invited Faculty: Neurology, Hearing, Speech, Language Carolyn J. Brown, Ph.D., University of Iowa Patricia M. Chute, Ph.D., Mercy College Laurie S. Eisenberg, Ph.D., House Ear Institute Paul Kileny, Ph.D., University of Michigan Yvonne Sinninger, Ph.D., University of California – Los Angeles Emily A. Tobey, Ph.D., University of Texas at Dallas Susan B. Waltzman, Ph.D., New York University Terry Zwolan, Ph.D., University of Michigan