Comparison of Open-Set Speech Perception Performance in Children with Cochlear Implants or Hearing Aids

Kim, Lee Suk; Huh, Min Jung; Park, Young Duk; Bae, Woo Yong; Kim, Jae Ryong; Park, Dong Eun

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
In this study, we compared the postoperative open-set speech perception abilities of children using implants against their preoperative residual hearing abilities and also compared the performance of cochlear implant users with that of age-matched hearing aid users. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Ninety-nine prelingually deaf children who have used implants over 1 year were grouped based on the unaided pure tone audiometry (PTA) thresholds into 3 groups: CI91-100(91-100 dB HL), CI101-110 (101-110 dB HL) and CI>111 (over 111 dB HL). Ninety-eight prelingually deaf children with hearing aids were divided into 4 groups also based on the unaided PTA thresholds: HA71-80 (71-80 dB HL), HA81-90 (81-90 dB HL), HA91-100 (91-100 dB HL) and HA101-110 (101-110 dB HL). Children with implants were tested by open-set speech perception tests (Monosyllabic Word, Common Phrases) before implantation and at 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months after implantation. Children with hearing aids were tested once or more times using open-set speech perception tests. The open-set speech perception abilities of children with implants and hearing aids were compared before implantation and at 30 months after implantation. RESULTS: The speech perception scores of CI91-100 were higher than those of CI101-110 and CI>111 for the first 2 years of implant use (p<0.05), and were higher than those of CI>111 at 3 years after implantation (p<0.01). Speech-perception scores of CI91-100 were lower than those of HA71-80, HA81-90 and HA91-100 before implantation, but were superior to those of HA91-100 and HA101-110 at 30 months after implantation (p<0.05). Performance of CI101-110 and CI>111 were poorer than that of HA71-80, HA81-90 and HA91-100 before implantation, but exceeded that of HA101-110 at 30 months after implantation (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Open-set speech perception performance of children with cochlear implants was better than that of hearing aid users of the corresponding hearing level and was similar to at least that of hearing aid users with PTAs of 81-90 dB HL. Therefore, some of children with severe hearing loss may become good candidates for cochlear implantation.