Single-Channel Focused Thresholds Relate to Vowel Identification in Pediatric and Adult Cochlear Implant Listeners.
Meisam K Arjmandi, Kelly N Jahn, Julie G Arenberg
PMID 35505617WHAT IT FOUND
In cochlear implant listeners, higher single-channel focused thresholds were linked to worse vowel identification.
Children had lower thresholds than adults, but age did not change that link. Noise lowered scores for both groups.
Key findings
01Children had lower focused thresholds than adults.
02Higher across-array average focused thresholds were associated with poorer vowel identification scores in quiet and in noise.
03Age group did not significantly affect the relationship between focused thresholds and vowel identification scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only participants who scored 70% or higher in quiet were tested in noise, so the noise finding may not apply to listeners with poorer quiet scores. The study measured thresholds and vowel scores. It did not test whether changing implant settings based on thresholds improves speech perception. The relationship between duration of deafness and focused thresholds was driven by adults. Children had shorter and narrower ranges of deafness duration. All participants used Advanced Bionics HiRes 90k devices and ListPlayer software. The paper does not report whether the findings apply to other implant systems. All participants were native speakers of American English and used oral communication, so the results may not extend to other languages or communication modes.
Declared interests
The supplied metadata indicates NIH extramural research support. The text does not include an author conflict-of-interest statement or say whether the funder designed or wrote the study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the focused threshold result as proof that changing cochlear implant programming will improve vowel identification. The study measured an association between thresholds and scores. It did not test an intervention.