title: Speech intelligibility in children after cochlear implantation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to evaluate the long-term speech intelligibility of young deaf children after cochlear implantation.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study design was a prospective study following a large group of consecutively implanted deaf children with up to 5 years' cochlear implant use.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted at a pediatric tertiary referral center for cochlear implantation.
  
  
  METHODS
  All children in the study were congenitally deaf or deafened before 3 years of age. They each received a Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant before the age of 7 years. Eighty-four subjects were evaluated up to 5 years after cochlear implantation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cochlear implantation followed by an intensive program of local and center-based assessment and rehabilitation was performed.
  
  
  METHODS
  A speech intelligibility rating scale evaluated the spontaneous speech of each child before and at yearly intervals for 5 years after implantation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After cochlear implantation, the difference between the speech intelligibility ratings increased significantly each year for 4 years (Mann-Whitney U-test). For the first 2 years, the average rating remained "prerecognizable words" or "unintelligible speech." It was not until the 3-year interval that the average intelligibility rating became category 3 (intelligible speech if someone concentrates and lip-reads). At the 4-year interval, 85% of children had some intelligible connected speech. This improvement continued, and at the 5-year interval, the median speech intelligibility was category 4 (intelligible speech to a listener with a little experience of deaf speech) and the mode was category 5 (intelligible speech to all listeners).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Congenital and prelingually deaf children gradually develop intelligible speech that does not plateau 5 years after implantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Nottingham Paediatric Cochlear Implant Programme, University Hospital, Queen's Medical Centre NHS Trust, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Nikolopoulos
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: O'Donoghue
mesh_terms: D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003638:Deafness / Q000151:congenital / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome