The goal of this study was to examine tonal language perception in adults with cochlear implants who are native speakers of Cantonese. Ten adult subjects were implanted with HiRes 90K devices and participated in the study. Baseline data were obtained with standard HiRes and compared with HiRes 120. Subjects were evaluated using a tone identification test and a questionnaire. While objective outcome measures with the tone identification test did not show significant differences between standard HiRes and HiRes 120, subjective evaluation with the questionnaire showed significant differences in the overall satisfaction perceived by subjects. HiRes 120 received a significantly higher rating and the majority of subjects preferred HiRes 120.
Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.