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Abstract
In this work, a case study of the first deaf-blind patient implanted with the Combi-40 cochlear implant is analyzed. The patient is a 69-year-old man who has been blind since the age of 25 and deaf since the age of 51. Before surgery, his wife used Braille and finger-spelling on his hand to communicate with him. In this study, we intend to show how the rehabilitation program was applied to his particular characteristics and to describe the problems we faced throughout the process. Significant improvements in the dynamic ranges of perception and comprehension of segmental features of speech were observed within two weeks after the setting up. Within four weeks, the patient was able to maintain a simple conversation through the cochlear implant alone, and he abandoned the use of tactile communication. Nowadays, he is able to speak over the phone. A battery of tests was performed 2, 4 and 6 months after the switch-on. The results obtained for this patient, whose scores are among the best in our experience, suggest that deaf-blind individuals may benefit from a multichannel cochlear implant as an auditory substitute.