[The development of auditory speech perception and spatial hearing abilities within one year after cochlear implantation in preschool prelingual deaf children].

To investigate the development of auditory speech perception and spatial hearing abilities within one year after cochlear implantation in preschool prelingual deaf children and the relationship between the two abilities. This retrospective study analyzed 31 preschool children with an average age of (2.3±1.2) years. All cases were assessed at pre-implant, 6 months and 12 months post-implant using the Infant-toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS), the Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS) and the Mandarin Early Speech Perception test (MESP) to evaluate their listening and speech perception abilities, and using the Speech,Spatial,and Other Qualities of Hearing Scale for Parents (SSQ-P) questionnaires to evaluate their speech perception and spatial hearing abilities. SPSS 23.0 was used for the statistical analysis. All children performed better at 6 months and 12 months post-implant with IT-MAIS/MAIS, MESP than pre-implant, and the scoring rate continued to improve, with a significant difference (<0.01). For the SSQ-P (Speech) and SSQ-P (Spatial) scores, the mean scores of pre-implant were (0.9±0.2) points and (0.8±0.3) points, those of 6 months post-implant were (4.6±0.2) and (2.6±0.3), and 12 months post-implant were (6.2±0.2) and (6.3±0.3), the scores of the two groups were significantly different at pre-implant, 6 months and 12 months post-implant (<0.01). The growth rate of SSQ-P (Spatial) from pre-implant to 12 months post-implant was 675.3%, and the growth rate from 6 months post-implant to 12 months post-implant was 140.6%, the growth rate showed an significant increase compared with IT-MAIS/MAIS, MESP and SSQ-P (Speech).SSQ-P (Speech) and SSQ-P (Spatial) scores were moderate correlation at 12 months post-implant(=0.465, =0.008). Within one year after cochlear implantation, listening, speech perception and spatial hearing abilities of preschool prelingual deaf children could show a comprehensive, continuous and significant progress as the implantation time increasing. The growth rate of spatial hearing is greater than that of speech perception at 12 months post-implant, and the spatial hearing could still show rapid development characteristics after 6 months post-implant.