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Therapeutic choices in the first 2 weeks of aural training after cochlear implantations

Abstract:

To establish the influence of therapeutic differences within the first two weeks of aural training after cochlear implantation two groups of patients have been compared on received training and on CVC scores 1, 2 and 4 weeks after the start of the training. Materials and methods: Two groups of 9 patients received training according to the Cochlear Learningmodel, each by a different therapist. Twelve sessions of each group have been observed and scored on differences on the six dimensions of the Cochlear Learningmodel. Consonant-vowel-consonant word recognition has been scored with Bosmans CVC-wordscore tests. Results: Differences on wordscores were significant at all three moments. Differences in therapeutic choices were found for two dimensions: . Discussion: the found differences in CVC wordscore may be explained by the differences in therapeutic choices on the emotional dimension and/ or the metacognitive dimension. The latter would imply a critical period for learning to hear details in speech perception, because the metacognitive skills enables the patient to focus on details in speech even when the therapist is not present. The small number of patients and the retrospective subjective way of scoring of the observed trainings asks for careful interpretation of the results. However the fact that even with these small numbers significant differences were found in CVC-scores and the possible implication that there is a critical period for learning to hear details in speech through the use of metacognitive skills asks for further investigation.

Keywords:

Cochlear implant, hearing, speech perception, training.

Introduction:

S.