The Sentence Test Fallacy                          

This site is dedicated to increasing awareness amongst Cochlear Implant professionals, and candidates for implantation, of an extraordinary anomaly at the centre of the system of testing for suitability.

Throughout the world cochlear implants are recognised as providing an opportunity for profoundly deaf people to gain hearing. There are many other sites available that describe what is involved, or provide vivid personal accounts from recipients of implants.

This site seeks to point out that there are many, perhaps tens of thousands, of profoundly deaf people who are denied the benefits of implantation because eligibility is not determined by how poorly they hear. Instead, and with the best of intentions, the Cochlear Implant establishment unwittingly uses an outdated test that measures how well a deaf person copes - the Sentence Test.

I explain this shortly in the “Briefly put” section, but for a more detailed exposition, go to the “Main Argument” section accessible in PDF form from the LINK above. Please take your time to read through it. Print it out, so you can mark up passages you find compelling, or with which you disagree. Discuss it with your colleagues, or, if you are a candidate for implantation, challenge your audiologist to deal with the issues it raises. Post a brief comment on the Feedback page, or email me using the Contact Me page.

Above all, spread the word.

 

Best wishes from

Nicholas Dollar
4A Paris Road, Paignton, Devon, England TQ3 2PH

E-mail:
mail@cochlear-implants.co.uk

April 2005

NOTE ABOUT COPYRIGHT: This site is copyright ©Nicholas Dollar 2005, but you are welcome to download and print out any parts of it for your personal use.

PRIVACY POLICY: Any personal information supplied, either automatically by your logging on to this site, or by your supplying Feedback or emailing, shall be used purely for the purposes of the site.