Developmental Outcomes Following Early Cochlear Implantation inInfants and Toddlers: a Comparative Study with Normal-hearing Peers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71321/prwgkz02Keywords:
Cochlear implants, Development, Auditory, SpeechAbstract
Objective: To evaluate whether early cochlear implant (CI) use can significantly and positively change hearing and speech abilities during a child’s development.
Methods: The present study included 42 children with bilateral CIs (8–36 months) and 40 age-matched children with normal hearing (NH) (6–48 months). Ages & Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-3); Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP); Speech Intelligibility Rate (SIR) were used.
Results: Twelve months after receiving bilateral CIs, the hearing status of the infants (1–12 months) and toddlers (13–36 months) had improved significantly. Infants using CIs were comparable to those with NH in all ASQ-3 aspects (p > 0.05). For toddlers, there was a post-implantation improvement in the gross motor, problem solving, and personal social domains (p > 0.05). However, there were still gaps in the communication domain (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that pre-implantation hearing aid usage duration, schooling, SIR score, communication, and caregiver education level significantly influenced post implantation outcomes.
Conclusions: With CI use, infants and toddlers with congenital sensorineural hearing loss showed improvements in auditory perception, speech production, and developmental abilities. Infant implant recipients performed better in all areas of development than toddlers, comparable to with NH children. Hearing aid use, language rehabilitation training, caregivers’ education level, and communication method were all highly correlated with the overall development of the children.
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