Nonverbal vocalizations (NVVs) like laughs, cries and screams are powerful carriers of affective meaning and trigger rapid attentional responses. Evidence linking specific acoustic cues of adult NVVs to affective perception remains fragmented across heterogeneous studies in typically-hearing listeners, and largely absent in cochlear‑implant users....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
No actionable change warranted now; this scoping review identifies gaps in cochlear implant rehabilitation related to affective nonverbal vocalizations but does not provide clinical protocols or outcome evidence sufficient to change practice.
Emotional sound perception is an under-studied dimension of cochlear implant outcomes, and this review maps the evidence landscape to guide future research priorities.
- 01Scoping review in Hearing Research covers perception of laughs, cries, and screams by cochlear implant (CI) users.
- 02Affective nonverbal vocalizations rely on spectral and temporal cues that current CI processing may not optimally convey.
- 03Findings highlight a gap between speech intelligibility outcomes and emotional sound perception in CI rehabilitation.
- 04Review methodology maps existing literature rather than synthesizing effect sizes or making pooled estimates.
- 05Results could inform future signal-processing research and patient counseling around CI expectations.
Cochlear implant users have difficulty perceiving affective nonverbal vocalizations such as laughs, cries, and screams.
studypartially supportedCurrent cochlear implant signal processing does not optimally encode the acoustic cues needed for affective nonverbal vocalization recognition.
opinionpartially supported- PMID
- 42854372
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.heares.2026.109828.
- Journal
- Hearing Research
- Publication type
- review
- Evidence level
- 2a
- Population
- Cochlear implant users and literature on affective nonverbal vocalization perception
- Intervention
- Scoping review of affective nonverbal vocalization processing in cochlear implant contexts
Primary outcomes
Characterization of evidence on affective nonverbal vocalization perception in CI users; Identification of research gaps relevant to emotional sound processing with cochlear implants