Bilateral versus unilateral cochlear implantation in young children

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Pediatric communication disorders
• Cochlear implantation

Background:

• Preverbal communication is crucial for early development in deaf children.
• Cochlear implantation (CI) aims to restore hearing, but outcomes can vary.
• Comparing unilateral and bilateral CI in young children is essential for understanding communication development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare preverbal communication skills in young children with unilateral versus bilateral cochlear implantation.
• To assess the impact of implantation type on vocal and gestural communication development.

Main Methods:

• Assessed 69 children (under 3 years at implantation): 42 unilateral CI, 27 bilateral CI.
• Measured preverbal skills before and 1 year after implantation using Tait Video Analysis.
• Analyzed vocal turn-taking, non-looking vocal turns, gestural turn-taking, and gestural autonomy.

Main Results:

• No significant difference between groups before implantation.
• At 12 months post-implantation, bilateral CI showed significantly better vocal turn-taking and non-looking vocal turns.
• Unilateral CI had higher scores for gestural autonomy pre- and post-implantation.
• Bilateral implantation explained 51% of the variance in non-looking vocal turns at 1 year.

Conclusions:

• Bilateral cochlear implantation significantly enhances vocal communication in profoundly deaf children compared to unilateral implantation.
• Bilateral CI facilitates greater use of vocalizations and audition during communication.
• These benefits are independent of the child's age at implantation and duration of deafness.