Comparisons of auditory performance and speech intelligibility in children with cochlear implants placed using...

To demonstrate whether there are differences in the outcomes of children with cochlear implants using the techniques between mastoidectomy with posterior tympanotomy (MPTA) and suprameatal approach (SMA).

A total of 44 congenitally deaf children who underwent cochlear implantation before the age of 5 years at the Sixth Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao tong University from January 2005 to March 2008 were included in this study. Children with severe mental retardation or with cochlear malformations were excluded. Each group had 22 patients; however, 4 patients in the SMA group and 5 in the MPTA group were not included in this study because the assessments for these patients were not available.

All children were assessed before surgery and 6, 12, and 24 months after surgery with Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP) and Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR). Each assessment was given by the child's speech therapist in the familiar environment of the child's home or school. At each interval, the CAP and SIR scores of each group were compared.

For the both groups, CAP and SIR scores increased with the time of implant usage during the follow-up period after implantation. However, there were no significant differences in scores of CAP and SIR at the 4 time points between the SMA group and the MPTA group.

Intelligible speech and auditory performance of children with cochlear implantation using the SMA were good. There were no differences between children implanted with the SMA technique versus the MPTA technique.