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Profound hearing loss is a disability that affects personality and when it involves teenagers before language acquisition, these bio-psychosocial conflicts can be exacerbated, requiring careful evaluation and choice of them for cochlear implant. AIM: To evaluate speech perception by adolescents with profound hearing loss, users of cochlear implants. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-five individuals with severe or profound pre-lingual hearing loss who underwent cochlear implantation during adolescence, between 10 to 17 years and 11 months, who went through speech perception tests before the implant and 2 years after device activation. For comparison and analysis we used the results from tests of four choice, recognition of vowels and recognition of sentences in a closed setting and the open environment. RESULTS: The average percentage of correct answers in the four choice test before the implant was 46.9% and after 24 months of device use, this value went up to 86.1% in the vowels recognition test, the average difference was 45.13% to 83.13% and the sentences recognition test together in closed and open settings was 19.3% to 60.6% and 1.08% to 20.47% respectively. CONCLUSION: All patients, although with mixed results, achieved statistical improvement in all speech tests that were employed. A surdez profunda é uma deficiência que afeta a personalidade e quando se trata de adolescentes com surdez profunda pré-lingual, esses conflitos biopsicossociais são exacerbados, necessitando de cautela na avaliação e escolha destes candidatos ao implante coclear. OBJETIVO: Avaliar a percepção de fala em adolescentes portadores de surdez pré-lingual do tipo neurossensorial grave a profunda bilateral com implante coclear. FORMA DE ESTUDO: Prospectivo. CASUÍSTICA E MÉTODO: Vinte e cinco indivíduos com surdez pré-lingual, sensório-neural, de grau severo ou profundo, que foram submetidos ao implante coclear na adolescência, definida entre 10 a 17 anos e 11 meses, passaram por testes de percepção de fala pré-implante e 2 anos após a ativação do dispositivo. Para análise, utilizamos os resultados dos testes de four choice, reconhecimento de vogais e sentenças em conjunto fechado e aberto. RESULTADOS: A média da porcentagem de acertos do teste de four choice antes do implante coclear era de 46,9% e após, 2 anos de uso do dispositivo, a média foi para 86,1%; no teste de vogais, a média foi de 45,13% a 83,13%; e no teste de sentenças em conjunto fechado e aberto foi de 19,3% a 60,6% e de 1,08% a 20,47%, respectivamente. CONCLUSÃO: Embora com resultados heterogêneos, todos obtiveram melhora estatística nos testes aplicados.

Introduction The factors that affect the development of children with and without hearing disabilities are similar, provided their innate communication abilities are taken into account. Parents need to mourn the loss of the expected normally hearing child, and it is important that parents create bonds of affection with their child. Objective To conduct a postevaluation of the development and cognition of 20 candidates for cochlear implants between 1 and 13 years of age and to observe important factors in their development. Methods The following instruments were used in accordance with their individual merits: interviews with parents; the Vineland Social Maturity Scale; the Columbia Maturity Scale; free drawings; Bender and Pre-Bender testing; and pedagogical tests. Results The results are described. Conclusion Parental acceptance of a child's deafness proved to be the starting point for the child's verbal or gestural communication development, as well as for cognitive, motor, and emotional development. If the association between deafness and fine motor skills (with or without multiple disabilities) undermines the development of a child's speech, it does not greatly affect communication when the child interacts with his or her peers and receives maternal stimulation. Overprotection and poor sociability make children less independent, impairs their development, and causes low self-esteem. Further observational studies are warranted to determine how cochlear implants contribute to patient recovery.

The Auditory Nerve Recovery Function (REC) may be extracted from the Electrically Evoked Compound Action Potential (ECAP). ECAP may be influenced by the stimulation received (or the deprivation of stimulation) and by the etiology of the hearing loss, consequently it might affect the REC.To verify whether there is a correlation between the REC and each of the following factors: etiology, time of auditory deprivation and time of hearing aid use before cochlear implantation (CI).Retrospective study. Data regarding etiology, time of auditory deprivation, time of hearing aid use before cochlear implantation were collected in children and adults who received a Nucleus®24. All patients who presented neural response at surgery and whose REC was assessed intraoperatively were included in this study. Fifty patients were selected, 26 children and 24 adults. Patients were divided according to the REC classification into three groups (GI: fast recovery; GII: intermediate recovery and GIII: slow recovery) to allow correlation analysis.Data analysis did not show any statistically significant correlation between the recovery function and the pre-implant studied characteristics. Nevertheless, it was observed that there was a greater concentration of both, children and adults, in the intermediate recovery function values. GI did not present individuals with infectious etiologies, such as meningitis, rubella and cytomegalovirus. REC average scores were slower in infectious etiologies for both children and adults.There was no statistically significant correlation between the recovery function and factors such as etiology, time of auditory deprivation and time of hearing aid use prior to CI.

Summary Cochlear implantation has been recommended for children under 24 months of age. The use of objective measures is needed to help speech processor programming. The electrically evoked compound potential (EAP), which can be assessed by neural response telemetry (NRT), is one of those objective measures. Aim: to determine how often the EAP can be recorded by NRT system during surgery and to describe the responses. Study design: clinical with transversal cohort. Material and Method: the impedances and NRT were measured in a group of 17 Nucleus 24 ® implant users. The responses were analyzed and compared to the etiology, hearing loss duration and electrode array position. Results: The EAP was easily recorded in the apical electrodes and, in otosclerosis and meningitis cases the EAP threshold was higher than in the other etiology cases. Conclusions: The NRT can be found in 82% of the cases during surgery. The responses obtained may vary according to etiology and the position of electrodes along the cochlea.