Speech Understanding in Noise in Children With Cochlear Implant

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of the study is to determine the effect of a cochlear implant on the ability to understand speech in a noisy environment. Materials and Methods: Turkish HINT was applied to the experimental group consisting of 15 children with a unilateral Cochlear Implant (CI) aged between 7;9, and 13;9 (year; month) and the control group consisting of 15 children aged between 8;10 and 13;0 with normal hearing. Speech Reception Thresholds (SRTs) of the groups were obtained in quiet and noise in front conditions. The data obtained from the groups were compared. Results: The mean Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) in the quiet was found to be 65.4 dB in children with CI and 21.6 dB in normal-hearing children. The mean SRT in noise was found to be +6.0 dB Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) in children with CI and -1.6 dB SNR in normal-hearing children. A significant difference was found between the mean SRT values of the groups in quiet and noise conditions (p0,01). Conclusion: Children with CI need a higher SNR than children with normal hearing to understand speech in noise. In addition, the age of children with normal hearing had a significant effect on speech understanding skills in noisy conditions but not in quiet.

Keywords

• Cochlear Implant
• Hearing Loss
• Speech Understading

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