Mediterr J Otol 2006:2(1): 27-35
Speech and musical perception in cochlear implant and hearing aid user adolescents
Esra Yücel, Erol Belgin
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Audiology and Speech Pathology Section, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey esyucel@yahoo.com
Objective: To compare the effect of electrical and acoustical stimulation on speech and music perception.
Methods: The study group consisted of 36 adolescents12 with cochlear implants, 12 with hearing aids, and 12 with normal hearing. . Both speech perception and music perception tests were used to compare the performances of the 3 groups.
Results: The aided pure-tone hearing thresholds of the hearing aid users were better at low frequencies. In contrast, the cochlear implant group’s thresholds were better at high frequencies. with a statistically significant difference at 250 and 6000 Hz.. The hearing aid users had similar scores to the normal hearing group in vowel identification and pattern perception. In addition, the hearing aid group performed better than did the cochlear implant group in vowel identification, pattern perception, and daily sentences tasks (P = .001, P = .02, P = .0001, respectively). No significant differences were found between the hearing aid and cochlear implant groups in multi-syllabic, phonetically balanced words, and consonant identification tasks. Although similar performances were obtained for three groups in music perception tasks, there was a positive and significant correlation was found between pattern perception and rhythmic perception ability of the cochlear implant group, whereas the hearing aid group, who had better performance in multisyllabic word discrimination, also performed better in tonal and rhythmic tasks.