The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of age on speech perception in children implanted before 5 years of age over the first 3 years after surgery. Material and Methods: A total of 31 children are divided into 2 groups; 12 were implanted before 2 and 19 implanted between 3 and 5 years of age. Assessment battery designed to measure speech perception was used to evaluate recipients at 12, 24 and 36 months after implantation. We used the following tests: 1. Closed and open-set for monosyllabic and polysyllabic words in quiet and noise 2 and Open-set sentence in quiet. Testing was performed with recorded voice in free field. The mean value on the open-set for monosyllabic words for all patients increased with time. The difference between the values for each group at 12, 24 and 36 months was significant (p<0.001). As duration of cochlear implant use increased, speech perception also improved.