Development of Auditory and Speech Skills in Children Using Cochlear Implant

Cochlear implant canenable hearing impaired children in acquiring speech, language, and communication skills through hearing sense.  The aim of the present study was to evaluate the development of auditory and speech skills of children using cochlear implant.
In the current study, 50 children with an average cochlear implant age of 40 months were evaluated with the collection of periodic assessment scales including the time they received the device and 3, 6, and 9 months after cochlear implantation. Data were analyzed using descriptive methods, visual analysis, and analysis of variance with repeated measurements in SPSS, version 20.
Data analysis showed increase in the mean scores of children in all scales during evaluation times of receiving the devise, 3, 6, and 9 months after transplantation. The differences between participants' mean scores were statistically significant between the first to fourth evaluations (P<0/001).
According to the results, children showed significant improvement in auditory performance and meaningful use of speech and speech intelligibility during the nine months after cochlear implant.