Early auditory development of cochlear implanted children with partial deafness.

Objectives: As candidacy criteria for cochlear implantation (CI) have been progressively relaxed to include very young children and those with residual hearing, there is the special interest in evaluation of early auditory development in these groups of children. The research question is whether there are differences in early auditory development between children with and without residual hearing. Material and Method: 63 with residual hearing and 59 with profound deafness were tested with the LittlEARS questionnaire. The test was performed at CI activation assessing pre implant auditory development and up to 12 months of CI use. The LittlEARS normative values were used to calculate the delay in auditory development of children from both groups. The delay in auditory development was analyzed separately for children implanted before the age of 12 months and for children implanted at the age of 12 to 24 months. Results: In children implanted before 12 months of age the delay in auditory development decreased over 12 months of CI use from 8 months to 1 month in the group with profound deafness and form 7 months to 1 month in children with residual hearing. In children implanted at the age of 12 to 24 months the delay in auditory development decreased over 12 months of CI use in both groups. However in children with profound deafness this delay after 12 months of CI experience was significantly higher comparing to the delay in auditory development in children with residual hearing. Conclusion: Children with profound deafness should be implanted before their first birthday to promote faster auditory development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]