Evaluating the Relationship Between Electrical Dynamic Range and Speech Perception Outcomes in Experienced Post-Lingually Deaf Adult Cochlear Implant Users: A Bicentric Study

Abstract

Objectives: To analyze speech perception outcomes of a cohort of experienced adult cochlear implant (CI) users to explore whether there is a correlation with electrical dynamic range (EDR) parameters, and to describe speech intelligibility curve morphology according to the degree of CI performance. Methods: A bicentric retrospective observational study. Data were extracted from a cochlear implantation database from a total of 36 CI users implanted with Advanced Bionics devices. Results: Mean age at implantation was 56.61 years. In the majority of cases, hearing loss onset was more than 15 years before implantation (80.55%), and only 11.11% of cases preserved residual hearing. This resulted in a significant relationship between speech therapy and better speech recognition (p = 0.044). At the same time, no correlation was found between age, duration of deafness before implantation, and maximum speech perception achieved (p > 0.05). Mean speech audiometry curves displayed a roll-over phenomenon in poor performers and a plateau effect in average performers. In contrast, the mean curve of high performers exhibited a steeper morphology (p < 0.0001). Speech recognition threshold (SRT) and word recognition score (WRS) were predictors of speech audiogram curves (p = 0.006). No direct correlation was found between the mean T-level, M-level, dynamic range, and maximum recognition score, even after clustering electrodes by position along the cochlea (p > 0.05). Conclusions: EDR parameters did not emerge as independent predictors of speech recognition outcomes within this specific cohort. Speech therapy and rehabilitative efforts showed a significant relationship with improved performance, and speech audiogram curve morphology may offer a more specific clinical tool for assessing global CI performance. Further prospective studies with larger, more homogenous populations are required to validate these findings.