Comparison of Auditory Perception in Cochlear Implanted Children with and without Additional Disabilities

BACKGROUND: The number of children with cochlear implants who have other difficulties such as attention deficiency and cerebral palsy has increased dramatically. Despite the need for information on the results of cochlear implantation in this group, the available literature is extremely limited. We, therefore, sought to compare the levels of auditory perception in children with cochlear implants with and without additional disabilities. METHODS: A spondee test comprising 20 two-syllable words was performed. The data analysis was done using SPSS, version 19. RESULTS: Thirty-one children who had received cochlear implants 2 years previously and were at an average age of 7.5 years were compared via the spondee test. From the 31 children, 15 had one or more additional disabilities. The data analysis indicated that the mean score of auditory perception in this group was approximately 30 scores below that of the children with cochlear implants who had no additional disabilities. CONCLUSION: Although there was an improvement in the auditory perception of all the children with cochlear implants, there was a noticeable difference in the level of auditory perception between those with and without additional disabilities. Deafness and additional disabilities depended the children on lip reading alongside the auditory ways of communication. In addition, the level of auditory perception in the children with cochlear implants who had more than one additional disability was significantly less than that of the other children with cochlear implants who had one additional disability.