Application and usage of tactile aid in Iran.

BACKGROUND Most 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. METHODS We 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. RESULTS Hundred 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. CONCLUSION The 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.