Introduction: The most common congenital sensory deficit is sensory neural hearing loss (SNHL), with a 1:3 occurrences per 1000 live births, this incidence increases to 4-5% in neonates with risk factors for SNHL. For severe to profound deaf persons, cochlear implantation has been used as a successful method to regain partial hearing. Children with CIs are now able to communicate and understand speech, learn spoken language, and attend regular schools.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess auditory perception threshold of cochlear implant users in Zagazig University Hospitals and evaluate their speech and language outcomes.
Patients and methods: This study included 62 participants operated in zagazig university hospital and follow the candidacy criteria for cochlear implantation of Zagazig University CI program. All patients were subjected to postoperative audiological and phonological assessment including Warble tone response thresholds in sound field, aided speech discrimination, language test and speech analysis.
Results: The results of this study revealed a statistically significant improvement in hearing thresholds and increase in speech intelligibility in the studied group. By comparing total language age with CI age there was 56.5% of cases have total language age less than CI age and 43.3% of cases have total language age equal and more than CI age.