ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe voice characteristic of pre-lingual cochlear implant adults for cochlear implantation and phoniatrics.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>3s-sustained voice of vowel [ a: ] of 28 pre-lingual cochlear implant adults, 18 pre-lingual deafness adults and 10 adults with normal hearing were analyzed. Specifically, the Voice analyses include fundamental frequency, first formant, second formant, frequency perturbation quotient (FPQ), amplitude perturbation quotient (APQ) and harmonic noise ratio (HNR). The outcomes of 3 groups were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The fundamental frequency was lower in cochlear implant group [(175.42+/-25. 31) Hz] than that in deafness group [(210.84+/-54.300) Hz] (P = 0.02). The position of formant of cochlear implant group [F2 = (1264. 64 +/- 152.19) Hz] was more access to normal than that of normal hearing group[ F2 = (1422.44 +/- 232. 37) Hz, P = 0. 02]. FPQ of cochlear implant group (2.09 +/- 1.15) was more access to normal than that of deafness group (5.32+/-4.29, P=0.006). The voice of cochlear implanted and deafness adults were much more different individually.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>In the aspect of acoustic characteristic of voice, pre-lingual cochlear implant adults could benefit cochlear implantation finitely. As speech perception of pre-lingual cochlear implant adults was far worse than that of children and post-lingual cochlear implant adults, the general outcome of pre-lingual cochlear implant adults was very limited. Cochlear implant of those candidate should be cautious.</p>