Structured telephone training improves telephone competence in prelingually deafened children with a cochlear implant.

Objective The aim of the study is to assess the efficacy of a 6-month telephone use training programme in prelingually deafened children with a cochlear implant (CI). Methods Eleven children with a CI aged between 3.5 and 8 years participated in a step-by-step telephone training programme. After completion of 3 months of formal training provided by a special education professional, parents continued telephone training at home for 3 months and kept records. The outcomes of the entire 6-month telephone training were measured at three intervals using the Telephone Profile, the Iowa closed-set sentence test (Level A), and a parent questionnaire. Results The scores on the Telephone Profile and Iowa closed-set sentence test significantly increased between the pre-training assessment and the assessments at 3 and 6 months. The results on the Iowa closed-set sentence test significantly decreased between the 3- and the 6-month-post training assessments. The majority of parents reported ‘slight improvement’ in telep...