Speech perception after multichannel cochlear implantation in the pediatric patient.

Clinical trials to evaluate multichannel cochlear implantation in children ages 2 to 17 years began in late 1986, with pre-market approval granted in 1990. To date, 870 children in the United States have received the Nucleus 22-channel device. Performance on measures of speech perception in 30 children who have used the Nucleus cochlear implant for a minimum of 6 months is presented and discussed in terms of the predictive value of patient biographic variables. Age at implantation and age to deafness onset were positively correlated with test performance for pre- and perilinguistically deafened subjects.