Introduction:

Oral-auditory therapy is a therapeutic method for the development of auditory skills and language acquisition in children with cochlear implants.

Objective:

To evaluate oral-auditory therapy in pediatric patients with cochlear implants.

Methods:

A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in 20 pediatric patients with cochlear implants for severe to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, who attended therapy at Holguín Hearing Center, from February 2021 to May 2023. Medical records were reviewed. IQ and language skills were assessed after one year of treatment. To determine the association of the variables with the progress of rehabilitation, Eta2 coefficient was used with 0.05 significance level.

Results:

Patients were predominantly in the range of 5 and 9 years of age, female and with primary education. 70% came from the main municipality. The most frequent age at the time of surgery ranged between 5 and 9 years. Average IQ (70%) and prelingual hearing loss (85%) prevailed. A strong association was demonstrated between the higher frequency of therapy attendance (p = 0.000) and IQ (p = 0.001), and the progress achieved with rehabilitation.

Conclusions:

Oral-auditory therapy is effective for language acquisition in children with cochlear implants, with a better outcome in those who attend more frequently.