title: Monosyllable speech perception of Japanese hearing aid users with prelingual hearing loss: implications for surgical indication of cochlear implant.
abstract: 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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Auditory Center for Hearing Impaired Children, Kanariya Gakuen, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Shoichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Kunihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukushima
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Toida
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsukamura
authors.forename: Yukihide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Namiki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kibayashi
authors.forename: Rie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nagayasu
authors.forename: Yorihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Orita
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kasai
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kataoka
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishizaki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007804:Language Development; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*