The effects of processor strategy on the speech perception performance of pediatric nucleus multichannel cochlear implant users

Objective: The present investigation examined the speech perception skills of pediatric cochlear implant users who changed from their original speech processors and strategies to the Spectral Peak (SPEAK) strategy. Design: A within-subjects design was used to compare individual subject's performance using the SPEAK strategy with that obtained with their previous speech strategy (F0F1F2 or Multipeak) in this retrospective study. The subjects demonstrated a wide range of perceptual abilities and had used a cochlear implant for varying lengths of time before converting to the SPEAK strategy. Results: Nine of the 11 subjects showed significant improvement on at least one of the open-set word recognition measures, whereas two subjects showed no change on any of the open-set measures when using the SPEAK strategy. Conclusions: The present results suggest that the majority of pediatric cochlear implant users are likely to show improved speech perception performance when converting to the new SPEAK processing strategy.