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Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Introduction Hearing is the principal sensory modality by which language and speech are acquired. For that reason, a child with hearing loss whose family chooses an auditory approach for learning language must have as much exposure to high-quality auditory stimulation as possible. Both hearing aids and cochlear implants (CI) are best in quiet and close places, but not so good at a distance, in noise or when sounds bounce around. Children with CI have significant difficulty in hearing conversational speech in the presence of background noise. They may have difficulty understanding soft speech signals due to distance and reverberation. Assistive listening technology is impressive and can be a big help for CI children. So, if CI children have unique needs that are not addressed by his CI, assistive listening devices (ALDs) can be the answer. Using the Roger inspiro system as a wireless communication accessory provides a significant increase in speech understanding in high levels of noise, by its wireless remote microphone. Aims The aim of the study is to monitor the effect of digital wireless technology (Roger inspiro) on the language development of children with cochlear implants. Participants and methods The present randomized case–control study included 20 children with CI using Roger inspiro during rehabilitation sessions as an ALD (11 boys and nine girls) with ages range from 5.3 to 11.6 years with a mean age of 5.9 years as well as 20 age- and sex-matched CI controls without ALD (10 boys and 10 girls). All children in the study or the control groups had bilateral severe to profound sensory neural hearing loss and they used advanced Bionics CI. Phoniatrics and Audiological assessment was done before auditory and language therapy for both groups. Reassessment was done after 6 months of therapy. Result Results show that there is a statistically significant improvement in The Word Intelligibility by Picture Identification (WIPI) scores after rehabilitation and with Roger. However, there is no significant difference between study and control groups as regards receptive, expressive, and total language. Highly significant correlation between WIPI results and expressive language results after therapy with Roger was found. Conclusion Coupling of wireless technology to CIs might help children improving their auditory access. The study supports the use Roger inspiro in enhancing speech perception for children with CI. The preliminary results also show the usefulness of wireless technology in the development of language skills in these children.

Keywords

Cochlear implant, Roger inspiro, WIPI test, wireless technology

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