Background: Considerable variability exists in the speech recognition abilities achieved by children with cochlear implants (CIs) due to varying demographic and performance variables including language abilities.
Purpose: This article examines the factors associated with speech recognition performance of school-aged children with CIs who were grouped by language ability.
Research design: This is a single-center cross-sectional study with repeated measures for subjects across two language groups.
Study sample: Participants included two groups of school-aged children, ages 7 to 17 years, who received unilateral or bilateral CIs by 4 years of age. The High Language group (N = 26) had age-appropriate spoken-language abilities, and the Low Language group (N = 24) had delays in their spoken-language abilities.
Data collection and analysis: Group comparisons were conducted to examine the impact of demographic characteristics on word recognition in quiet and sentence recognition in quiet and noise.
Results: Speech recognition in quiet and noise was significantly poorer in the Low Language compared with the High Language group. Greater hours of implant use and better adherence to auditory-verbal (AV) therapy appointments were associated with higher speech recognition in quiet and noise.
Conclusion: To ensure maximal speech recognition in children with low-language outcomes, professionals should develop strategies to ensure that families support full-time CI use and have the means to consistently attend AV appointments.
American Academy of Audiology. This article is published by Thieme.