Background: Cochlear implantation is nowadays a reliable and well-accepted method of auditory rehabilitation in selected adults and children.
Methods: We present rehabilitation data on 21 adult patients provided with the Nucleus CI22 M cochlear implant using the SPEAK strategy.
Results: Results of first tune-up show an open set speech understanding in approximately 50% of patients. Long-term results also reveal further improvement in patients who had no open set speech understanding. Our data seem to indicate similar results in comparison to other groups using the CIS strategy.
Conclusions: In adults, open set speech understanding can be achieved even at the first tune-up. Results of early rehabilitation seem to be influenced by duration and etiology of deafness, experience with hearing aids, and other factors.