Evaluation of speech perception in noise in cochlear implanted adults.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effects of different signal-to-noise ratios on speech recognition obtained by the use of cochlear implant (CI); to compare the speech recognition in noise with different types of multichannel cochlear implants (CIs) and to evaluate the degree of difficulty for speech understanding in noise in daily life situations.


METHODS
Cohort transversal.


METHODS
Forty adults with post-lingual hearing loss implanted with Nucleus 22, Nucleus 24, Combi 40, Combi 40+ and Clarion. We evaluated the recognition for CPA sentences in quiet and in S/N +15, +10 and +5 dB. We also applied the Social Hearing Handicap Index (SHHI) questionnaire for self-assessment in daily life.


CONCLUSIONS
All the implanted adults presented a significant reduction in the scores for sentences recognition as the S/N decreased. The medians' curve for sentence recognition reached 50% in the signal-to-noise ratio of +10 dB. There was no statistically significant difference in sentences' recognition scores and difficulty scores obtained with the SHHI, for all types of implants. The difficulties of implanted adults were rare in quiet and occasional in noisy situations according to SHHI questionnaire.
Nascimento
Leandra Tabanez do
LT
Hospital de Reabilitação de Anomalias Craniofaciais, USP-Campus Bauru. tabanez@neobiz.com.br
Bevilacqua
Maria Cecília
MC
D000328:Adult; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003638:Deafness / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009622:Noise; D013065:Speech Intelligibility / Q000502:physiology*; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013069:Speech Reception Threshold Test; D013997:Time Factors; D014825:Vocabulary