Speech, Language, and Reading Skills After Early Cochlear Implantation.

Presents a medical study to examine whether age at cochlear implantation or duration of implant use is associated with speech, language, and reading skills exhibited at age eight to nine years in children who underwent implantation by age five years. Evaluation of performance outcomes in speech perception, speech production, language and reading; Report that normal speech and language skills were documented in 80 percent of children who lost hearing after birth and who underwent implantation within a year of onset of deafness; Commentary regarding the medical study; History of medical approaches to deafness; Discussion of prosthetic activation of the auditory periphery; Challenges involved in deafness in children who have hearing families; Reference to a study found in the May 2004 issue of the "Archives of Otolaryngology--Head & Neck Surgery" regarding cochlear implants in children.