Performance Outcome of Paediatric Prelingual Cochlear Implantation

• Published in: Bengal Journal of Otolaryngology and Head Neck Surgery
• Main Author: Anjan Das
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Association of Otolaryngologists of India, West Bengal 2014-12-01
• Subjects: Cochlear Implants; Hearing loss/surgery; Speech perception
• Online Access: http://bjohns.in/journal/index.php/bjohns/article/view/49
• ISSN: 2395-2393; 2395-2407

Objective To evaluate the speech and hearing outcome of paediatric pre-lingual cochlear implantation.   Study Design Retrospective observational study.   Materials and Methods A total of 30 congenitally deaf children under the age of 5whounderwent cochlear implantation (CI) at our Institute from January 2005 to October 2011 were included in this study. Children with severe mental retardation or with cochlear malformations were excluded. Patients who underwent post-lingual cochlear implantation were excluded.   Interventions All children were assessed before surgery and at 0, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after surgery with revised Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP) and Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR). Each assessment was given by the child's speech therapist in the familiar environment of the child's home or school. At each interval, theCAPand SIR scores were compared with pre-operative data.   Results In our study, 73.33% patients were implanted between 2 and 4 years of age, 10% under 2 years and 16.67% between 4 and 5 years. The mean revised CAP score at 0 month, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years and 3 years of surgery was 1.27, 4.2, 6.23, 8.17 and 10.33 respectively; the mean SIR score at 0 month, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years and 3 years of surgery was 1,1.7, 2.6, 4.47 and 5 respectively.   Conclusion Intelligible speech and auditory performance of children who underwent prelingual cochlear implantation was improved compared to their pre-operative status. Cochlear implantation appears to be beneficial for pre-lingual deaf children in terms of improvement of quality of life.