Three-year follow-up of children with open-set speech recognition who use the MED-EL cochlear implant system.

Improvement in implant technology and the fact that children with cochlear implants have surpassed all expectations have led the field to believe that open-set speech understanding is a common and expected outcome. The available literature suggests this to be the case in open-set word understanding. This study shows the results of 41 pre-lingually deafened children with a minimum of 3 years' cochlear implant experience assessed on the EARS test battery, which includes open-set phoneme, word and sentence tests. Results show that some open-set skills emerge by 6 months after implantation. There was significant improvement over time, even after 3 years of cochlear implant experience. A significant effect of age at implantation was also demonstrated. Results suggest that cochlear-implanted children develop open-set speech recognition soon after implantation, and these skills develop over a long period of time, highlighting the need for continued therapy to maximize listening and learning.