This study compares the functional language performance of Tamil-speaking children (n = 30) who received a cochlear implant (CI) before 2 years of age (earlier implanted group: EIG) and between 3 and 4 years of age (later implanted group: LIG). Everyday functional language of children was evaluated by interviewing parents using the adapted Parents' Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children (PEACH) Questionnaire in Tamil language. On average, both groups of children had difficulties in everyday language functioning. However, functional results of EIG were better than those of LIG. In addition significant correlations were found between age at intervention and PEACH score. The evidence lends support to early intervention increasing the functional performance of the children fitted with CI. PEACH can be a clinically feasible evaluation tool to implement in practice for clinicians to obtain meaningful information regarding children's auditory performance in real life at childhood.

The conceptions about stuttering vary amongst cultures. Culturally specific findings regarding stuttering help in understanding the peoples' views and conceptions about stuttering and devising awareness and counselling strategies. A total of 132 passengers on the Coromandal Express from Chennai to Howrah participated in this study. All of them belonged to the upper middle socioeconomic class. Preliminary Stuttering Conception Questionnaire (PSCQ) was used to understand their conceptions of stuttering. 23% had no idea and 12% had myths about the etiology of stuttering. 11% assumed it was a genetic problem and 5-6% a physical-mental problem. 31% had no idea of treatment options. 25% preferred medicine, 23% rehabilitation for treatment of stuttering. For rehabilitation, only 45% precisely knew about the speech language pathologist; the remaining 55% were unaware of this profession. Steps need to be taken towards educating the common man about stuttering.

The present study was undertaken to verify the credibility of theories that attribute the locus of stuttering aetiology to be a central speech planning dysfunction. Ten stutterers and ten nonstutterers participated in this study which utilized a choice reaction time paradigm to determine the effects of three independent variables, viz., word length, phonetic complexity, and linguistic complexity on dependent variable-speech reaction time (SRT). By varying the response complexity in this manner it was intended to manipulate the response preparation in a way that if stuttering depends on a premotor programming, then the response complexity would adversely affect response preparation time and this effect of ‘‘complexity’’ would be greater for stutterers (with aberrant speech programming) than for nonstutterers. The results obtained supported the above and significant differences were elicited in both within and across group conditions. However, some peculiar ‘‘effects,’’ viz., ‘‘paradoxical complexity effect’’ and ‘‘motor ceiling effect’’ were also evidenced and are subsequently discussed. The results of the study suggest that the stutterers may be endowed with inefficient motor programming capabilities that are aggravated by increased production demands especially under time stress conditions.