Initial Iowa results with the multichannel cochlear implant from Melbourne.

Two subjects who use the Melbourne multichannel cochlear implant were studied. Live-voice word, consonant, and vowel recognition tests, and a speech-tracking task were administered at regular intervals during the first 90 days after implantation. Results indicated 30-50% correct recognition of vowels (given 9 alternatives) and about 30-60% correct recognition of consonants (given 12 alternatives). Speech tracking showed from two to three times faster rates with the implant and vision compared to a vision-alone condition. After 3-4 months of implant experience, a number of recorded tests from the Minimal Auditory Capabilities battery and the Iowa Cochlear-Implant tests were then administered. These results indicated about 80% recognition of everyday sounds in a five-choice closed-set condition and about 50% recognition of everyday sounds in an open-set condition. The subjects were 50% correct at identifying the accented words in a sentence and about 50% correct at determining the number of syllables in a word. One subject was unable to recognize a sentence as a statement or a question. Background noise (+10 dB S/N) reduced their performance on a four-choice spondee test to chance. Both subjects were able to identify a sound as either a voice or a modulated noise at 95% correct, and both could recognize speaker sex at 95% correct. Neither could discriminate whether two (successive) sentences were spoken by the same speaker or by two different speakers. Remarkably, one subject identified 45% and the other 85% of the words in sentences that were preceded by a contextual picture using sound alone. One subject identified 13% of the words in sentences in sound alone even without contextual information.