prof ound hearing loss is a disability that affects personality and when it involves teenagers before language acquisition, these bio-psychosocial conflicts can be exacerbated, requiring careful evaluation and choice of them for cochlear implant. Aim:To evaluate speech perception by adolescents with profound hearing loss, users of cochlear implants.Study Design: prospective. Materials and Methods:Twenty-five individuals with severe or profound pre-lingual hearing loss who underwent cochlear implantation during adolescence, between 10 to 17 years and 11 months, who went through speech perception tests before the implant and 2 years after device activation. For comparison and analysis we used the results from tests of four choice, recognition of vowels and recognition of sentences in a closed setting and the open environment. Results:The average percentage of correct answers in the four choice test before the implant was 46.9% and after 24 months of device use, this value went up to 86.1% in the vowels recognition test, the average difference was 45.13% to 83.13% and the sentences recognition test together in closed and open settings was 19.3% to 60.6% and 1.08% to 20.47% respectively. Conclusion:All patients, although with mixed results, achieved statistical improvement in all speech tests that were employed. Braz J Otorhinolaryngol. 2011;77(2):153-7. ORIgInAL ARTIcLE BJORL

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