Pediatric cochlear implants in prelingual deafness: medium and long-term outcomes

Abstract

Unfortunately, no large-scale, well-designed, comprehensive studies on medium and long-term effect of cochlear implants in prelingual children exist. Furthermore, the few studies listed have addressed different aspects of this issue, in a non-standardized manner. With the question of outcomes becoming so important in modern medicine, standardized reporting methods are essential. This would enable a fair comparison between the different commercial devices and between rehabilitation-education methods. The studies presented above were published between 1999 and 2008. Due to the long follow-up period required for reporting medium and long-term outcomes, they actually represent patients implanted one and two decades ago. At present and in the near future, we may expect better results from patients who were implanted in the last few years for several reasons: a) superior cochlear implants with better coding strategies; b) developments in rehabilitation and higher awareness among parents and staff; c) better health care and universal screening programs, leading to implants being performed in an earlier age; and d) a high rate of performing bilateral cochlear implants (either simultaneously or sequentially) in the last decade, which accomplishes even better results compared to unilateral implants. From the studies reviewed above, mainstreaming the child who has auditory-verbal and oral communication is the preferred educational setting for maximizing the medium and long-term benefit from a cochlear implant. Hearing and speech skills continue to improve many years after the implant. Non-use and failure rates (as reported by the authors from the medical centers and not solely by the cochlear implant manufacturers) are low, ranging from 1% to 2.7% per year. Overall, patients have a high rate of employment, close to that of the general population. However, they may be less satisfied, as the individual and the parents may feel compromised by their communication skills.