Speech performance by patients with multichannel cochlear implants.

Thirteen patients were implanted with multichannel cochlear implants between April 1, 1984 and February 25, 1985. The patients are fitted with the sound processor unit 4 to 6 weeks postsurgery. One patient had a single-channel unit replaced with a multichannel implant. She reported improved sound quality. All patients use their implants daily and all patients would undergo implantation again (based on their current performance). Evidence exists that continued use leads to improved performance. Patient S.S. progressed from auditory-only scores of 12% and 24% to 100% in 4 months. The average open set auditory-only performance of six patients in the first 4 months on a spondee word list was 22%. The average of eight patients--more than 4 months post sound processor--is 44%, indicating improvement with use. Patients perform better when combining auditory input with visual input than they do with lip reading alone. The multichannel implant is well tolerated and accepted, and results in speech performance improvement.