Factors influencing speech perception in noise for 5-year-old children using hearing aids or cochlear implants.
Teresa Yc Ching, Vicky W Zhang, Christopher Flynn and 5 others
PMID 28687057WHAT IT FOUND
Children with hearing aids and cochlear implants showed a similar spatial listening benefit, but both needed louder target speech relative to noise than typical peers.
Age at cochlear implant activation and language ability were associated with speech perception scores.
Key findings
01At 5 years, children using cochlear implants needed about 2 dB better signal-to-noise ratio than children using hearing aids to achieve the same speech perception.
02For children using hearing aids, nonverbal cognitive ability predicted speech perception scores, and language ability explained additional variance.
03For children using cochlear implants, age at activation and language ability were significant predictors of speech perception scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The current analysis used 5-year-old assessment data, and the authors note that follow-up at 9 years is needed to study development. 67 children (26.6% of the sample) who could not complete speech testing were assigned the poorest score observed, which may make outcomes look worse than they are. The regression models did not explain significant variation in spatial listening benefit, so the study does not identify what drives that benefit. Device configuration for cochlear implant users, such as bilateral implants or bimodal fitting, was not analysed.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the similar spatial listening benefit as evidence that children with hearing aids or cochlear implants hear speech in noise as well as typical peers. The children needed about 4.0 to 6.9 dB signal-to-noise ratio for 50% correct, compared with about −1.2 dB in children with typical hearing.