RESULTS OF MULTICHANNEL COCHLEAR IMPLANTS IN CONGENITAL AND ACQUIRED PRELINGUAL DEAFNESS IN CHILDREN - 5-YEAR FOLLOW-UP

Postlingually deafened children, using multichannel cochlear implants, have achieved substantial improvement in their speech perception abil ities and, in many instances, the results are better than in postlingu ally deafened adults. It has been suggested that children with preling ually acquired and congenital deafness would not receive similar benef its, since they have not developed an auditory memory. The purpose of this study is to analyze the speech perception and production performa nce over time of prelingually deafened children who have been using a multichannel cochlear implant for 1-5 years. Preliminary results compa ring the effects of age at implantation and etiology of deafness on pe rformance are also examined.