Last updated: 11/24/2009

Most profoundly deaf patients who receive an implant are able to discern medium and loud sounds, including speech, at comfortable listening levels. Many use sound clues from the implant, together with speech reading and other facial cues, to achieve...

understanding. Almost all adults improve their communication skills when combining the implant with speech reading (lip reading), and some can understand spoken words without speech reading. More than half of adults who lost hearing after they learned to speak can understand some speech without speech reading. Especially with the use of accessory devices, the great majority can utilize the telephone with their implants.

Children who were born deaf or who lost their hearing before they could speak have the most difficulty in learning to use the implant. Research suggests, however, that most of these children are able to learn spoken language and understand speech using the implant. In general, the earlier the implant occurs the greater the chance of the implant providing sufficient sound input to provide speech understanding. As with the use of the telephone in adults, accessory devices such as special microphones often help the function of the implant in classroom settings.