Speech Perception and Spoken Word Recognition in Children with Cochlear Implants

Cochlear implantation in children was introduced more than 30 years ago. Since that time, we have seen technological advances in cochlear implant design, surgical advances intended to preserve residual hearing, and broadening of cochlear implant candidacy to include infants, as well as children with usable residual hearing. Today children with cochlear implants achieve unprecedented levels of speech recognition, and they use these skills to leverage the development of speech production, language, and literacy skills. The evolving nature of cochlear implant candidacy and outcomes has led to a concomitant evolution in the assessment of speech perception outcomes in children with cochlear implants. In this chapter, we review current speech perception assessment techniques in infants and children that are used in clinical or research settings. We also point out child and test characteristics that must be considered when selecting a test battery for infants or children. Finally, we review several landmark longitudinal studies of cochlear implant outcomes in children with severe-to-profound hearing loss, and identify factors that have been shown to influence their development of speech perception and spoken language processing abilities.