Evaluation of a tactile aid and a cochlear implant in one child

The speech perception and production skills have been examined in a young deaf child who used a tactile aid for 2.5 years and subsequently received a multichannel cochlear implant. Although the differences were small, there was a trend of higher performance on nearly all speech perception measures following implantation than was observed after 2.5 years of tactile-aid use. Negligible changes occurred in her speech while wearing the tactile aid but substantial improvements appeared after she had used the multichannel implant for only 6 months.