Long-Term Auditory and Speech Outcomes of Cochlear Implantation in Children with IP-I Malformation

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the long-term auditory and speech outcomes in children with Incomplete Partition Type I (IP-I) who underwent cochlear implantation (CI) and compared their progress to implanted children with normal cochlea.

Methods: This study tracked 17 children with IP-Ι for an average of 3.5 years post-implantation. A control group with normal cochlea was also tracked. Regular assessments, including aided hearing threshold, categories of auditory performance (CAP), and speech intelligibility rating (SIR), were conducted every 6 months for the first 2 years post-CI and annually thereafter. Speech recognition was tested for children who could cooperate with it.

Results: The aided hearing threshold of IP-I children had improved significantly from 90.51 dB HL before CI to 47.02 dB HL in the sixth-month post-CI, and it had further improved to 26.27 dB HL after more than 48 months post-CI. Meanwhile, their median CAP scores had improved from 0 to 6.5 and median SIR scores from 1 to 4 over the same period. There was no significant difference in the improvement of mean aided hearing thresholds over time between the IP-I and control groups postoperation. However, IP-I children showed slower progress in CAP and SIR scores and had lower recognition rates for monosyllabic and disyllabic words compared with the control group.

Conclusion: Children with IP-Ι showed continuous but slower improvement in auditory and speech capabilities post-CI compared to those with normal cochlea. Their speech recognition ability was also inferior.

Level of evidence: 3 Laryngoscope, 135:2120-2127, 2025.

Keywords: Cochlear deformity; Cochlear implant; auditory and speech ability; incomplete partition type I.

Fig. 1

Preoperative HRCT images of normal cochlear children (A) versus those with IP‐Ι (B). HRCT indicates high‐resolution computerized tomography.

Fig. 2

Means and SDs of aided hearing thresholds in IP‐Ι group. **means p < 0.01; *means p < 0.05; ns means p > 0.05.

Fig. 3

Box diagram of CAP and SIR scores of IP‐Ι group over time. The figure shows the maximum, minimum, median, and interquartile of CAP and SIR scores at each follow‐up time point. The specific values of the median and quartile distance are indicated above each box diagram. CAP indicates Categories of Auditory Performance; SIR, Speech Intelligibility Rating.***means p < 0.001;**means p < 0.01; *means p < 0.05; ns means p > 0.05.

Fig. 4

Development trend of mean aided hearing thresholds in the IP‐Ι and control groups. Mean values at each follow‐up time point are displayed as round symbols or square symbols.

Fig. 5

Development trend of CAP and SIR scores in the IP‐Ι and control groups. CAP indicates Categories of Auditory Performance; SIR, Speech Intelligibility Rating. Medians at each follow‐up time point are displayed as round symbols or triangle symbols.

Fig. 6

Speech recognition rates at last follow‐up in the IP‐Ι and control group. Data displayed as mean ± SD with individual data points. *means p < 0.05.