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Pediatric performance with the Nucleus 22-channel cochlear implant system
S J Staller1, A L Beiter, J A Brimacombe
1Cochlear Corporation, Englewood, CO 80112.
Insights
Pediatric cochlear implant (Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant) use significantly benefits children with hearing loss across various auditory skills. Early and pre-lingual deafness may impact performance, but long-term improvements are possible.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Pediatric Otolaryngology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Cochlear implants are vital for pediatric hearing rehabilitation.
- Assessing long-term benefits in children is crucial for understanding device efficacy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the clinical and statistical benefits of the Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant in pediatric subjects after 12 months of use.
- To identify factors influencing performance, such as age at deafness onset and duration of deafness.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 80 pediatric subjects with 12 months of cochlear implant experience.
- Assessment of auditory skills using suprasegmental, closed-set, and open-set tests.
- Evaluation of lipreading performance with and without implant-provided sound.
Main Results:
- Significant improvements were observed in 66% (prosodic), 63% (closed-set), and 46% (open-set) of subjects.
- 49% of subjects showed improved lipreading ability when combined with implant sound.
- Early or prolonged deafness correlated with lower performance on complex auditory tasks.
Conclusions:
- The Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant provides significant benefits for pediatric users across diverse auditory abilities.
- While early-onset or long-duration deafness may present challenges, continued use suggests potential for long-term performance gains, reducing disparities.
Abstract:
Results from 80 pediatric subjects with 12 months of experience wearing the Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant are presented. The data suggest that children demonstrate statistically and clinically significant benefit across a broad spectrum of abilities with the implant. Significant postoperative improvement was demonstrated by 66 percent (51 of 77), 63 percent (45 of 72), and 46 percent (27 of 59) of subjects tested on suprasegmental (prosodic), closed-set and open-set tests, respectively. Forty-nine percent of subjects tested improved when lipreading was combined with sound from the implant, compared with lipreading alone. Children who were deaf at an early age or who had longer duration deafness tended to demonstrate poorer performance on the more difficult perceptual tasks after 12 months of implant experience. However, preliminary evidence suggests that continued improvements by congenital and prelinguistic subjects over longer periods of time may reduce performance differences between subjects with early and later onset deafness.