title: Longitudinal performance of spoken word perception in Mandarin pediatric cochlear implant users.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the present study was to investigate the longitudinal performance on open-set word perception in Mandarin children with cochlear implants (CIs).
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective cohort study. One hundred and five prelingually deaf children implanted with CIs participated in the study. The Standard-Chinese Version of Monosyllabic Lexical Neighborhood Test (LNT) and Multisyllabic Lexical Neighborhood Test (MLNT) were used as open-set word perception evaluation tools. Evaluations were administrated at 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, and 84 months post CI stimulation, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  (1) Spoken word perception performance of congenitally deaf children with CIs improved significantly over time. (2) The fastest improvement occurred in the first 36 months after initial activation, then the improvement slowed down and the final peak score of 81.7% correct was achieved at 72 months after initial activation. (3) Early implanted children exhibited better longitudinal performance. (4) Lexical factors affected consistently in each evaluation session. For lexically harder words, such as monosyllabic hard words, there was substantial room for improvement even after long-term use of CI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  (1) CI continuously provided significant benefits in word perception to children with severe/profound sensorineural hearing loss. (2) Age at implantation and Mandarin lexical factor affected longitudinal performance significantly.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: haihongliu6@aliyun.com.
authors.forename: Haihong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (Capital Medical University), Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Sha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, United States.
authors.forename: Karen Iler
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Kirk
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wentong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhicheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ni
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003638:Deafness / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Children; Cochlear implant; Hearing loss; Word perception