Performance Plateau in Prelingually and Postlingually Deafened Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients

OBJECTIVE:To characterize the performance plateau after unilateral cochlear implantation (CI) in prelingually and postlingually deafened adults and to compare their relative progress. STUDY DESIGN:Retrospective chart review. SETTING:Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS:Prelingually and postlingually deaf adults who received a unilateral CI and completed a minimum of 2 years of follow-up at our center. INTERVENTION:Unilateral CI. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Standard speech perception testing (consonant-nucleus-consonant [CNC] monosyllabic word test and hearing in noise test [HINT] or AzBio sentence test) were performed preoperatively and 3 and 12 months postoperatively, and annually thereafter. RESULTS:In postlingually deaf patients (n = 102), there was a significant improvement in word scores for 3 years postimplantation (p