Factors affecting auditory and speech behaviors in young children with Cis

JIN Xin; LIU Haihong; LI Ying; LI Jing; ZHANG Jie; ZHENG Jun; GE Wentong; NI Xin

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1672-2922.2015.03.006

Abstract：Objective To investigate the effects of duration of CI use, pre-implant residual hearing threshold level, and rehabilitative training on auditory behavior and speech production in young Manda-rin-speaking children. Methods Participants were 43 young children who received CIs before 3 years of age (mean=17 months). Auditory and speech behaviors were evaluated using the Infant-Toddler Meaningful Au-ditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS) and the Meaningful Use of Speech Scale (MUSS), respectively. Evalua-tion was performed before and at 1, 2, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after CI use. Results 1) With increasing duration of CI use, auditory behavior and preverbal speech production improved dramatically (ANOVA,p<0.05). 2) Pre-implant residual hearing levels were correlated with early auditory behaviors (within 6 months) (p<0.01), but not with MUSS performance (p>0.05). 3) IT-MAIS and MUSS performances in children who received re-habilitative training were significantly better than those who did not (p<0.01). IT-MAIS performance started to show a difference within 3 months (p <0.01), while MUSS performance showed differences at 9 and 12 months (p<0.01). Conclusions 1) With increasing duration of CI use, auditory behavior improves dramatical-ly in young children, including significant improvement in auditory recognition and understanding capabili-ties at 3 to 9 months of CI use. Most children exhibit speech production after 6 months of CI use. 2) Pre-im-plant residual hearing levels are related with the early auditory behaviors (within 6 months), although not with speech production. 3) The present study confirms the effects of auditory/speech rehabilitative training on audi-tory behavior and speech production.