Monosyllable speech perception of Japanese hearing aid users with prelingual hearing loss: implications for surgical indication of cochlear implant.

OBJECTIVE: The monosyllable speech perception ability after years of educational intervention was compared between prelingually deafened pediatric hearing aid users and their cochlear implant counterparts. DESIGN: An open-set monosyllabic speech perception test was conducted on all subjects. The test required subjects to indicate a corresponding Japanese character to that spoken by the examiner. Fifty-two subjects with prelingual hearing impairment (47 hearing aid users and 5 cochlear implant users) were examined. RESULTS: Hearing aid users with average pure-tone thresholds less than 90 dB HL demonstrated generally better monosyllable perception than 70%, which was equivalent or better performance than that of the cochlear implant group. Widely dispersed speech perception was observed within the 90-99 dB HL hearing-aid user group with most subjects demonstrating less than 50% speech perception. In the cluster of >100 dB HL, few cases demonstrated more than 50% in speech perception. The perception ability of the vowel part of each mora within the cochlear implant group was 100% and corresponding to that of hearing aid users with moderate and severe hearing loss. CONCLUSION: Hearing ability among cochlear implant users can be comparable with that of hearing aid users with average unaided pure-tone thresholds of 90 dB HL, after monosyllabic speech perception testing was performed.

Language development of a multiply handicapped child after cochlear implantation.

The presence of additional handicaps in hearing-impaired children makes the prediction of language ability after cochlear implantation unreliable. Only limited follow-up data on developmental improvement after implantation among multiply handicapped children is available. The present study reports the course of development (audiological and linguistic) after cochlear implantation in one subject with moderate mental retardation. Preoperatively, his language development showed 34 months delay when compared to chronological age. The difference had shortened to 23 months by 2 years post-surgery. The subject's cognitive delay had not changed upon 2-year follow-up. The cochlear implant can be credited to his improvement in language development.