gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: Patients with prelingual or perilingual deafness are usually not classified as candidates for a cochlear implantation. The present retrospective study examines the open-set speech recognition of early deafened patients who received a cochlear implant in an adult age.

Methods and results: Assessed data of 42 Patients with a mean age at onset of 0.13 years were so far analyzed. The development of the first two years after implantation was reviewed. Preoperatively, the mean best aided threshold at 0.25 kHz was 83.5 dB. The age at implantation averaged 28.3 years with the patients having a mean experience with hearing aids of 21.6 years. Routine measurements included the Freiburger Numbers and Monosyllables in quiet, and the Hochmair-Schulz-Moser Sentences in quiet, and in noise (65 dB SPL/10 dB SNR). Additionally, the patients were divided into 4 groups according to their ability to communicate verbally (intelligibility).

The patients’ mean performance raised postoperatively reaching performance plateaus after one year. The best speech perception was measured in patients with the highest competence in verbal communication and speech intelligibility, even if they had received elder implant types.

Conclusions: Early deafened patients gain profit from a cochlear implantation. However, individual prognostic parameters, especially their competence in verbal communication, should be taken into account.