Savelev E.S., Saveleva E.E., Popadyuk V.I., Machalov A.S. Cochlear implant processor settings for children. Head and neck. Head and Neck. Russian Journal. 2025;13(4):95–103
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25792/HN.2025.13.4.95-103
Background. The introduction of cochlear implantation (CI) in the Russian Federation has enabled children with severe sensorineural hearing loss and deafness to compensate for their hearing loss. For successful rehabilitation of a child after CI, the following are necessary: availability of competent specialists, motivation of the child’s parents, monitoring of the technical condition of the inner and outer parts and optimal adjustment of the speech processor (SP). If the stimulation parameters of the SP are not selected properly, the child may experience distorted speech perception. This article reviews visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA –Visual Reinforcement Audiometry) as a method for selecting SP parameters. The aim of the study. To evaluate the possibilities of using the visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA) method for programming and selecting the parameters of the SP.
Material and methods. The study group consisted of 32 children aged 2 to 6 years (4,42±0,17) who used CI monaurally and had more than 1 year of experience using SP. All children made audiometry in a free sound field at frequencies of 500–4000 Hz on the main listening program before and after fitting. Additionally, 19 children underwent play-based audiometry, while 13 children underwent audiometry with visual reinforcement. The data obtained were used to correct the settings of the main SP listening program.
Results. Programming SP using subjective psychoacoustic tests — game audiometry and audiometry with visual reinforcement – significantly improved the hearing thresholds on the main SP listening program at the speech frequencies (p<0.01). The VRA method can be used in young children up to 2–3 years old and in older children who are behind their peers in speech development and have limited auditory experience and vocabulary.
Conclusion. VRA is a simple tool for subjective assessment of hearing thresholds in the speech in children using CI systems.
Keywords: cochlear implantation, sensorineural hearing loss, CI fitting, visual reinforcement audiometry, speech audiometry
Conflict of interest. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Funding. This study required no funding