Περίληψη:
OBJECTIVES. The objective of this study was to evaluate long-term speech
perception abilities of comparable groups of postmeningitic and
congenitally deaf children after cochlear implantation.
METHODS. This prospective longitudinal study comprised 46 postmeningitic
deaf children and 83 congenitally deaf children with age at implantation
of <= 5.6 years. Both groups were comparable with respect to educational
setting and mode of communication and included children with additional
disabilities.
RESULTS. Both postmeningitic and congenitally deaf children showed
significant progress after implantation. Most (73% and 77%,
respectively) could understand conversation without lip-reading or use
the telephone with a known speaker 5 years after implantation, whereas
none could do so before implantation. At the same interval, the
postmeningitic and congenitally deaf children scored a mean open-set
speech perception score of 47 (range: 0-91) and 46 (range: 0-107) words
per minute, respectively, on connected discourse tracking. The
respective mean scores at the 3-year interval were 22 and 29 correct
words per minute, respectively. None of these children could score a
single correct word per minute before implantation. The progress in both
groups was statistically significant. When the 2 groups were compared,
there was no statistically significant difference.
CONCLUSION. Postmeningitic and congenitally deaf children showed
significant improvement in their auditory receptive abilities at the 3-
and 5-year intervals after cochlear implantation. There was no
statistically significant difference between the outcomes of the 2
groups, suggesting that, provided that children receive an implant
early, cause of deafness has little influence on outcome. Although the
prevalence of other disabilities was similar in both groups, for
individual children, their presence may have profound impact. The study
supports the concept of implantation early in life, irrespective of the
cause of deafness.
Συγγραφείς:
Nikolopoulos, Thomas P.
Archbold, Sue M.
O'Donoghue, Gerard M.
