Early-deafened Adult Cochlear Implant Users: Assessment of Outcomes

Objective: To determine whether adults deafened in the prelingual and perilingual stages of speech development realize objective and subjective benefits from cochlear implantation.

Method: Retrospective analysis of the open-set speech recognition and subjective data such as use and quality of life.

Results: Between 1989 and 1999, 198 deafened adults underwent cochlear implantation at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre. Of these, 44 patients were deafened pre- or perilingually. These subjects were implanted with a Nucleus 22, Nucleus 24 (Cochlear Corporation, Denver, Colorado, USA), or Clarion (Advanced Bionics Corporation, Sylmar, California, USA) device. The average age at implantation was 34 years (range 14-62 years). Significant differences in speech perception, as measured by a composite score of open-set word, phoneme, and sentence recognition, were found among groups who differed by type of education and communication training received in childhood.

Conclusion: By and large, open-set speech recognition in prelingually and perilingually deafened adults is inferior to that achieved in postlingually deafened adults and varies according to the type of communication training they received. However, cochlear implants have significantly improved the overall communication skills and quality of life in all subgroups of patients.