• Alireza Karimi-Yazdi, Amir-Arvin Sazgar, Abbas Nadimi-Tehran, Abolhassan Faramarzi, Fariba E Nassaj, and Shahriar Yahyavi.
• Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
• Arch Iran Med. 2006 Oct 1; 9 (4): 344347344-7.

BackgroundMost deaf and severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss patients are incapable to communicate well because of a lack of receiving sound signals. Cochlear implant is one of the effective measures, which has been of great help to the deaf. Up to now, more than 1000 cochlear implants have been accomplished successfully in Iran. Since cochlear implantation is faced with numerous problems and difficulties, we should establish other methods for sound communication. Tactile aids can be a very effective help regarding this issue.MethodsWe designed and accomplished a study on the use of tactile aid, along with rehabilitation and training of these patients in our department. We designed four educational stages to check the improvement of subjects who used one-, two-, and seven-channel tactile aids.ResultsHundred percent of the cases passed the first stage (detection) successfully. In the second stage (beginning pattern perception) all the cases with two and seven channel tactile aids were able to distinguish all kinds of sounds. They could differentiate between speech and non-speech sounds. In the third stage (recognition of speech), all the cases were able to recognize environmental and "sound maker" sounds, but only 43% of the individuals were able to recognize speech sounds and repeat correctly with two-channel tactile aids. In the fourth stage (comprehension of words), identification and repetition of the words were only possible with seven-channel tactile aids.ConclusionThe results of our study show that tactile aids are well accepted by the patients with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss who do not benefit from usual hearing aids.

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