Perception of speech by prelingual pre-adolescent and adolescent cochlear implant users

This study was undertaken to assess the speech perception benefits, 24 months after cochlear implantation (CI), in 20 young people (age at CI, 8-18.5 years) with prelingual profound hearing loss, in addition to the use of a proposed CI candidacy assessment profile. Speech perception was evaluated in terms of word and sentence perception before CI, and at six-monthly intervals for two years after CI. Before undergoing CI, all participants were tested on a pre-implantation assessment profile. Compared to the pre-CI findings, group results over 24 months post-CI demonstrated improved speech perception abilities reaching, on average, 46% for word recognition, 71.3% for sentences in quiet, and 33.6% for sentences in noise. Pre-CI profile scores correlated significantly with all speech perception results obtained 24 months after CI. Thus, despite their relatively late ages at implantation, all participants showed gradually improving performance in speech perception. The results showed a high variability in the outcomes of the participants. The pre-CI profile appeared to be useful in formulating realistic expectations of CI outcome during pre-implantation consultations, suggesting that expectations can and should be managed according to each patient's pre-implantation assessment.