Speech perception of children using Nucleus, Clarion or Med-El cochlear implants.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to present speech perception achievements of implanted children using commercially available cochlear implant devices: Nucleus, Clarion or Med-El.

Study Design: A retrospective analysis.

Methods: Speech perception data of 96 hearing-impaired children: 27 with Clarion, 49 with Nucleus and 20 with Med-El were collected. Speech tests included the Hebrew Infant Toddlers Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (HIT-MAIS) for the infants, the Hebrew Early Speech Perception (HESP) closed-set word-identification test and Hebrew Arthur Boothroyd (HAB) open-set one-syllable word recognition test were used for the older children.

Results: I HIT-MAIS: (1) Infants showed similar rate of progress, regardless of device. (2) Children implanted under two years of age reached performance within normal development on this test. II HAB: (1) Most children achieved open set results with mean HAB between 40 and 50%, within 1-1.5 years post implantation. (2) Linear regression analyses revealed no statistical differences between the Clarion the Nucleus and the Med-El devices on the mean final measurement of this test. (3) Age of implantation and mode of communication were significant covariate variables: (a) the younger the child is implanted the better the results and (b) oral communication prior to implantation results in better performance than sign language.

Conclusions: There are no apparent differences in speech perception performance between implant devices when considering background variables. The data have important implications on the rehabilitation process of hearing impaired children with cochlear implants in relation to device selection, age at implantation and mode of communication prior to implantation.