Language Development in Profoundly Prelingually Deaf Children with Cochlear Implantation: Long-Term Outcomes

Ryu, Jin Hyun; Jung, Da Jung; Cho, Hyun Ho; Lee, Jae Ho; Lee, Sang Heun; Lee, Kyu Yup

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
It is well established that cochlear implantation provides significant benefits for prelingually profound deaf children. However, there are few studies that examined the long-term outcome of cochlear implantation beyond 10 years in prelingually deaf children. The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term benefit of cochlear implantation for children with more than 10 years of experience of using cochlear implantation, regarding auditory performance and academic status. We then determined the age effect of cochlear implantation on auditory performance for prelingually deaf children.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
The longitudinal development of auditory performance of 119 deaf children was analyzed after cochlear implantation. Among the 119 children, 58 were included for analysis.
RESULTS
The children who received cochlear implanst at younger age showed significantly better auditory performance. Age at which implantation had been performed had a significant effect on the development of auditory performance before 4 years of age. Many children continued to demonstrate improvements of auditory performance upto five years of implant use. Some showed development of auditory performance upto 10 years cochlear implantation.
CONCLUSION
The present result indicates that speech perception and performance for children continue to improve over time from 5 upto 10 years while using cochlear implant. The use of earlier cochlear implantation was demonstrated to provide better auditory performance. The age at which implantation was performed was one of the important factors influencing the long-term outcome of cochlear implantation.