[Speech discrimination in post-lingually deaf patients with cochlear implants].

The aim of this study was to measure the speech discrimination performance of postlingually deaf patients using the Combi 40/40+ cochlear implant (Med-El, Innsbruck). The speech perception performance of 37 adults was tested over a time span of three years. We used a standardised test battery comprising number, monosyllable, sentence, consonant and vowel discrimination tests. Testing was performed immediately after initial fitting and 1, 3, 5, 12, 24, and 36 months thereafter. The average correct answers for all tests were as follows: right after the implantation 29.1%, after 1 month 46.7%, after 3 months 53.9% after 1 year 63.5% and after 3 years 68.5%. Some patients reached a number discrimination rate of 100%. The discrimination for monosyllables averaged 41.1% two years after implantation. The results demonstrated continuous improvement of speech perception, even after three years following implantation.