SELF-REPORT OF COCHLEAR IMPLANT USE AND SATISFACTION BY PRELINGUALLY DEAFENED ADULTS

Objective: Prelingually deafened adults tend to demonstrate smaller im provements in speech recognition after cochlear implantation than do p ost-lingually deafened adults, which has led some professionals to bel ieve that prelingually deafened adults receive only minimal benefit fr om a cochlear implant. The primary objective of this study was to eval uate cochlear implant use and satisfaction by prelingually deafened ad ults. Design: A questionnaire was administered to 12 prelingually deaf ened adult cochlear implant patients to evaluate cochlear implant effi cacy and satisfaction. Questionnaire results were contrasted with perf ormance on speech recognition tasks. Results: Although these patients demonstrated little or no improvements in speech recognition 12 mo pos toperatively, most patients reported that they used their device regul arly, that they were satisfied with their device, and that using the c ochlear implant improved both their expressive and receptive communica tion skills. Conclusions: Procedures other than traditional speech rec ognition measures should be used to evaluate cochlear implant benefit, particularly with prelingually deafened adults.