Tone and sentence perception in young Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Pediatric Otolaryngology

Background:

• Lexical tone perception is crucial for spoken language acquisition in tonal languages.
• Cochlear implantation (CI) is a common intervention for pediatric hearing loss.
• Understanding CI outcomes in young children is vital for optimizing auditory rehabilitation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate lexical tone and sentence perception in young children with cochlear implants (CIs).
• To investigate the influence of demographic factors on auditory perception outcomes.
• To explore the relationship between tone perception and sentence perception.

Main Methods:

• 96 children (2.41–7.09 years) in China received unilateral CIs.
• Assessed perception of lexical tones in quiet and sentences in quiet/noise.
• Analyzed effects of preoperative hearing, age at implantation, CI duration, maternal education, and hearing aid trial.

Main Results:

• Mean tone identification was 77%; Tone 2/3 was most difficult.
• Longer CI use and higher maternal education correlated with better sentence perception.
• Hearing aid trial and residual hearing aided sentence perception in noise.
• CI duration was the only factor for tone perception; correlations between tone and sentence perception were weak to moderate.

Conclusions:

• Most young CI recipients did not match peers with normal hearing in tone and sentence perception.
• Improved tone perception may not directly translate to better sentence understanding, particularly in noise.
• Early implantation and consistent CI use are important but may not fully bridge the perception gap.