Speech Perception by Prelingually Deaf Children after Six Years of Cochlear Implant Use: Effects of Age at Implantation

Additional long-term speech perception data after 6 years of Nucleus 22 cochlear implant use are provided on a group of prelingually deaf children (N = 26) studied by H. Fryauf-Bertschy et al (1997). Measures include inter alia the Monosyllable-Trochee-Spondee word & stress tests, H. Haskins's (1949) Phonetically Balanced-Kindergarten word & phoneme recognition tests, the Word Intelligibility by Picture Identification (WIPI) test, & the Iowa Audiovisual Consonant Test. Average results on each test are plotted over time for annual evaluations during the first 6 years of implant use, & average results of the Phonetically Balanced-Kindergarten word recognition test are also plotted as a function of age at implantation; a positive effect of earlier implantation is evidenced, as are small but consistent gains in average results 4, 5, & 6 years after implantation. 4 Figures, 13 References. J. Hitchcock