Performance of children with mental retardation after cochlear implantation: speech perception, speech intelligibility, and language development.

Conclusion: Children with mental retardation (MR) obtain demonstrable benefit from cochlear implantation, and their postoperative performance was tempered by the degree of MR.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of children with MR after implantation, and to explore their progress according to the degree of MR.

Methods: Fifteen implanted children with MR were included. Progress in speech perception, speech intelligibility, and language was measured using Categories of Auditory Performance, monosyllabic word test, Speech Intelligibility Rating, and Language Scale before and after implantation. We retrospectively examined outcomes and explored the association between the progress and the degree of MR after implantation. We compared monosyllabic word test scores using repeated-measures ANOVA.

Results: Speech perception and speech intelligibility for children with mild MR improved consistently after implantation. After implantation, monosyllabic word test scores did not differ significantly between children with mild MR and children with no additional disabilities. Although language development of children with mild MR was slow, they could communicate verbally 3 years after implantation. Children with moderate MR progressed more slowly and had limitations in speech and language development, and these children could communicate by vocalization and gesture 3 years after implantation.