[Aspects of auditory speech perception in cochlear implant and hearing aid managed children]

Speech perception is a valuable tool for the assessment of auditory (re-)habilitation of children with hearing impairments. We tested 3 groups of prelingually deaf children. For the evaluation of speech recognition abilities the test of auditory perception of speech in children (TAPS) was used. Hearing aid fitted children of a school for hard of hearing and school of the deaf (n = 12 and n = 10, respectively) and cochlear implant users (n = 12) of the same age group were tested. A positive correlation of the speech perception abilities with the aided thresholds was found. Hearing aid fitted children of the school of hard of hearing with aided thresholds between 20 and 40 dB HL including 4000 Hz showed best results. Students of the same school with aided thresholds in the range of 45 to 70 dB HL performed comparable to the lesser cochlear implant users fitted with a single channel analogue system. Hearing aid fitted students of a school for the deaf with the same degree of hearing loss and amplification showed significantly poorer results.