The development of consonant perception in pediatric cochlear implants of 1－3 years old

Abstract

Objective:To explore the development of consonant perception in early implanted pediatric with prelingual bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss at 1 to 3 years of age. Methods:A retrospective study was conducted to prospectively analyze the pediatric with hearing impaired who had cochlear implantation. According to the age of implantation, all participants were divided into two groups as 1 year old group（1－<2） and 2 years old group（2－<3）. It was compared the consonant perception of Mandarin early speech perception test scores at 1, 2, 3 years after implantation as well as the trends in consonant perception between 1 year old group and normal hearing pediatrics of the same age. Results:①The scores improved notably in two groups with the increase of physiological age（P=0.038, P=0.012）; ②The consonant perception of 1 year old group was significantly better than that of 2 years old group（P<0.05）, however, there are great difference between 1 year old group and normal hearing pediatrics of the same age. Conclusion:With the increase of physiological age, the consonant perception will be improved correspondingly within 3 years of pediatric cochlear implants under the age of 3 however there are differences with normal hearing pediatrics of the same age; the earlier the age of implant, the better the consonant perception is.