Abstract
We studied the speech perception performance of patients who had undergone cochlear implantation with chronic otitis media. The study of consonant confusion demonstrated that: 1) Discrimination of voiceless consonants and voiced consonant was easy; 2) The highest monosyllable discrimination were voiced semivowel, nasal and voiceless plosive consonants; 3) A tendency was seen towards confusion between /b/ → /w/, /dz/ → /s/, /ʢ/ → /tʃ/, /h/ → /s/, /m/ → /n/. During rehabilitation sessions, discrimination exercises for these instances of consonant confusion were found useful for improving speech perception.
We hypothesized that speech perception increases in cochlear implant patient with chronic otitis media as idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss decreases. The degeneration of the spiral ganglion cells in chronic otitis media is believed to be small. However, no difference in speech perception is seen in cases with chronic otitis media and idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.
Inner ear disorders caused by otitis media may also extend to the cochlear nerve in addition to the cochlear canal.
