Speech recognition in background noise of cochlear implant patients

OBJECTIVES: The performances of adult patients using Spectral peak (Nucleus 22 or Nucleus 24 patients) or Continuous Interleaved Sampling or Advanced Combination Encoder (Clarion patients) were evaluated in their ability to perform in quiet and in 2 levels of background noise. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ninety-six patients were tested with the City University of New York Sentences presented at 70 dB in quiet and at signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) of +10 and +5 dB. Patients were scored on the number of words perceived correctly. RESULTS. Scores were different at each condition (P < 0.05): 88% words correct in quiet, 73% correct at an SNR of +10 dB, and 47% correct at an SNR of +5 dB. Linear regression analysis found no significant correlation between test score and age at implantation or time using the implant. A weak negative correlation was found between years of hearing loss and score. CONCLUSION: Competing noise interferes with comprehension of connected speech for most cochlear implant patients.