Speech intelligibility and auditory perception of pre-school children with Hearing Aid,cochlear implant and Typical Hearing

Mohammad Ashori

摘要：Purpose: There is a growing interest in speech intelligibility and auditory perception of deaf children.The aim of the present study was to compare speech intelligibility and auditory perception of pre-school children with Hearing Aid (HA),Cochlear Implant (CI),and Typical Hearing (TH).Methods: The research design was descriptive-analytic and comparative.The participants comprised 75 male pre-school children aged 4-6 years in the 2017-2018 from Tehran,Iran.The participants were divided into three groups,and each group consisted of 25 children.The first and second groups were respectively selected from pre-school children with HA and CI using the convenience sampling method,while the third group was selected from pre-school children with TH by random sampling method.All children completed Speech Intelligibility Rating and Categories of Auditory Performance Questionnaires.Results: Thefindings indicated that the mean scores of speech intelligibility and auditory perception of the group with TH were significantly higher than those of the other groups (P<0.0001).The mean scores of speech intelligibility in the group with CI did not significantly differ from those of the group with HA (P < 0.38).Also,the mean scores of auditory perception in the group with CI were significantly higher than those of the group with HA (P<0.002).Conclusion: The results showed that auditory perception in children with CI was significantly higher than children with HA.Thisfinding highlights the importance of cochlear implantation at a younger age and its significant impact on auditory perception in deaf children.