Speech perception skills in Maltese adolescent cochlear implant users

Abstract

Understanding of speech in different listening conditions presents a constant challenge for individuals with hearing loss. The effects of poor speech perception on performance, means that the measurement of speech perception has an important role in the assessment and rehabilitation process. The aim of this study was to investigate the difficulties of speech perception faced by bilingual adolescent cochlear implant (CI) users when compared to typically hearing peers. The main participants were a group of 12 profoundly hearing impaired adolescents who received their CIs by their second year of life, and who had been using them for at least 5 years. Within this clinical group, four individuals received a second CI sequentially. A group of same age typically hearing (TH) peers were also evaluated. This group was recruited using snowball sampling in order to minimize variables. Data was obtained from word and non-word repetition tasks in both English and Maltese. Speech perception measures were obtained from the data, by calculating the percentage correct phoneme scores on all the tests in both quiet and noise. The CI users scored significantly lower than their TH peers for test material in both quiet and noisy listening conditions. Scores achieved by individuals using bilateral implants were higher than those of unilateral users on all the tests however this was not statistically significant. Outcomes will be useful in setting recommendations for clinical practice client management, educational considerations and further research purposes (Madell, 2011).