OBJECTIVE: To correlate the responses from intraoperative neural response telemetry (NRT) with speech perception. METHODS: We selected 21 patients with severe to profound prelingual sensorineural hearing loss who underwent cochlear implantation with the Nucleus Freedom device at the Agamemnon Magalhães Hospital during the period from 2009-2011. The NRT measurements were performed using 9 electrodes per patient during surgery, and evaluation of speech perception was performed with specific tests after at least 1 year of continuous use of the cochlear implant. RESULTS: The mean age was 8.7 years, and ranged from 2 to 37 years. 38.08% of implanted patients were able to recognize words in closed contexts, while 9.52% were able to recognize open-set words. There was no statistically significant relationship between the development of speech perception and NRT for any electrode measured, despite a slight tendency for lower levels of current to evoke an ECAP in the latter. CONCLUSION: Despite the proven utility of ECAP in programming the speech processor for cochlear implant users, NRT measurements are not able to predict which patients have greater potential for speech perception.
