Changes in synthetic and natural vowel perception after specific training for congenitally deafened patients using a multichannel cochlear implant

This is a publisher’s version of a paper from XVI World Congress of Otohinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery 1997, published by Monduzzi Editore. This version is reproduced with the permission of the publisher.The study investigated whether congenitally deafened patients using the 22-e1ectrode cochlear implant who show limited speech perception ability, could improve their ability to use place-coded vowel formant information after specific training. The relationship between electrode difference limens and synthetic vowel recognition also investigated. A heterogeneity of findings characterized the patients. Significant improvements on several assessments of synthetic vowel perception occurred after 10 training sessions for 2 of the patients and gains were consistent with their electrode discrimination ability. There were minimal gains for the remaining patients. A poorer apical electrode difference limen could partly explain the relatively low scores pre-and post-training for one of these patients.2-7 Marc