Speech development in children after cochlear implantation.
We evaluated the long-term speech intelligibility of young deaf children after cochlear implantation (CI). A prospective study on 47 consecutively implanted deaf children with up to 5 years cochlear implant use was performed. The study was conducted at a pediatric tertiary referral center for CI. All children in the study were deaf prelingually. They each receive implant before the program of auditory verbal therapy. A speech intelligibility rating scale evaluated the spontaneous speech of each child before and at frequent interval for 5 years after implantation. After cochlear implantation, the difference between the speech intelligibility, rating increased significantly each year for 3 years (P < 0.05). For the first year, the average rating remained "prerecognizable words" or "unintelligible speech". After 2 year of implantation the children had intelligible speech if someone concentrates and lip-reads (category 3). At the 4- and 5-year interval, 71.5 and 78% of children had intelligible speech to all listeners (category 5), respectively. So, 5 years after rehabilitation mode and median of speech intelligibility rating was five. Congenital and prelingually deaf children gradually develop intelligible speech that does not plateau 5 years after implantation.
Bakhshaee
Mehdi
M
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Imam Reza Educational Hospital, Mashad University of Medical Sciences, Mashad, Iran. m-bakhshaee@mums.ac.ir
Ghasemi
Mohammad Mahdi
MM
Shakeri
Mohammad Taghi
MT
Razmara
Narjes
N
Tayarani
Hamid
H
Tale
Mohammad Reza
MR
D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003638:Deafness / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D011184:Postoperative Period; D013060:Speech; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014706:Verbal Learning