Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 1, 2026
Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
Ear selection and pediatric cochlear implants: a preliminary examination of speech production outcomes
1Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, and Education of the Deaf, Idaho State University, 921 S. 8th Avenue Mail Stop 8116, Pocatello, ID 83209-8116, United States. flippete@isu.edu
Objective:
The goal of the current study was to examine whether ear selection (left versus right) for cochlear implantation results in significant differences in speech production outcomes.
Methods:
Ten children with right-ear implants were compared to five children with left-ear implants on intelligibility of speech produced in single words, sentences, and conversation as well as on accuracy of speech sounds produced during administration of a single word articulation test and in conversational speech.
Results:
The children with right-ear implants performed significantly better than those with left-ear implants but only on the single word tasks. No significant differences were observed at the sentence or conversational speech levels.
Conclusion:
Findings are discussed relative to the possibility that the obtained ear of implantation differences (if real) may disappear over time. Such a conclusion is quite tentative however given the small sample size in the current study. Such a limitation may also explain why no differences were obtained for the connected speech measures. Further study of ear selection outcomes is clearly indicated.
