gms | German Medical Science

In the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of the Hannover Medical University since 1986 over one hundred congenitally deaf or profoundly hearing impaired patients received cochlear implantation unilaterally or bilaterally after the age of sixteen.

The audioverbal development of profoundly deaf patients depends on factors such as the age at implantation, experience with hearing aids, the main mode of communication or the early usage of spoken language. Technical aspects such as the type of implant, speech processor and used speech strategy could be determining, too.

Base of the present examination was the testing of the recognition of vocals with and without lipreading, the understanding of numbers, monosyllables and sentences (recorded voice) and the speechtracking-skills (live voice with or without lipreading) in a sample of 44 patients. Additionally, a questionnaire is designed in order to evaluate parameters characterizing the adequate supply of this group of patients more accurately. With the study still being in progress, complete data are yet to follow.

None of the present patients had significant open speech recognition without lipreading before implantation, though some of them had experience with hearing aids. Most of the patients benefited in their speech recognition skills after implantation, commonly reaching a plateau after twelve months. Some patients reached open speech recognition skills. There is a tendential advantage in speech recognition skills in patients with recent implant-technology and in bilaterally implanted patients. A correlation between the duration of deafness and speech-recognition skills could not be established in the present sample of patients.

Present results widely conform to existing research in prelingually deafned adults, although some restrictions in comparability remain due to varying inclusion criteria, high interindividual variance in data or low number of cases.