Objective: This study aimed to determine the effects of preoperative speech reception on postoperative speech recognition with a cochlear implant and to develop a statistical index allowing prediction of postoperative speech recognition before implantation.
Study design: The study design was a retrospective case review with statistical modeling.
Setting: The study was conducted at a tertiary referral center with an associated Veteran's Administration hospital.
Patients: Postlingually deafened adults with and without residual speech reception participated.
Intervention: Cochlear implantation with Cochlear Corporation CI-22 and CI-24 devices was performed.
Main outcome measures: Monosyllabic word recognition was measured.
Results: Duration of deafness and preoperative sentence recognition are both significant predictors of word recognition with a cochlear implant and can account for 80% of the variance in word recognition.
Conclusions: Cochlear implant outcomes are variable but predictable within specific ranges.