Abstract
The aims of this study were (1) to document the recognition performance of environmental sounds (ESs) in Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) and to analyze the possible associated factors with the ESs recognition; (2) to examine the relationship between perception of ESs and receptive vocabulary level; and (3) to explore the acoustic factors relevant to perceptual outcomes of daily ESs in pediatric CI users. Forty-seven prelingually deafened children between ages 4 to 10 years participated in this study. They were divided into pre-school (group A: age 4–6) and school-age (group B: age 7 to 10) groups. Sound Effects Recognition Test (SERT) and the Chinese version of the revised Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-R) were used to assess the auditory perception ability. The average correct percentage of SERT was 61.2% in the preschool group and 72.3% in the older group. There was no significant difference between the two groups. The ESs recognition performance of children with CIs was poorer than that of their hearing peers (90% in average). No correlation existed between ESs recognition and receptive vocabulary comprehension. Two predictive factors: pre-implantation residual hearing and duration of CI usage were found to be associated with recognition performance of daily-encountered ESs. Acoustically, sounds with distinct temporal patterning were easier to identify for children with CIs. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that ESs recognition is not easy for children with CIs and a low correlation existed between linguistic sounds and ESs recognition in these subjects. Recognition ability of ESs in children with CIs can only be achieved by natural exposure to daily-encountered auditory stimuli if sounds other than speech stimuli were less emphasized in routine verbal/oral habilitation program. Therefore, task-specific measures other than speech materials can be helpful to capture the full profile of auditory perceptual progress after implantation.
Highlights
The major role of the human auditory system is to inform the listeners about the presence of occurring auditory signals in the surrounding world
A total of 42.55% children with cochlear implants (CIs) had a score below 70 percent correct; 57.14% among preschool group and 30.77% among the school-aged group
The results indicated that the average performance of participants fell into the bottom 5% of the normal-hearing preschoolers
Summary
The major role of the human auditory system is to inform the listeners about the presence of occurring auditory signals in the surrounding world. These signals can be perceived as two categories: speech and non-speech sounds (e.g. music, environmental sounds), both have tremendous importance in our daily lives. Perception of daily environmental sounds (ESs) allows individuals to feel safe and connected to the dynamic environment that surrounds them [1]. Timely confirmation on ES recognition can be valuable for parents as well as for clinicians during programming and counseling It provides consolation for parents when their children are at the stage of preverbal period or at low-verbal stage. Children may feel safer and more alert to interact with their living environment if they can better perceive sounds around them
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