Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 13, 2026
Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
Spoken language benefits of extending cochlear implant candidacy below 12 months of age
Johanna G Nicholas1, Ann E Geers
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and NeckSurgery, Campus Box 8115, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. NicholasJ@ent.wustl.edu
Objective:
To test the hypothesis that cochlear implantation surgery before 12 months of age yields better spoken language results than surgery between 12 and 18 months of age.
Study Design:
Language testing administered to children at 4.5 years of age (± 2 mo).
Setting:
Schools, speech-language therapy offices, and cochlear implant (CI) centers in the United States and Canada.
Participants:
Sixty-nine children who received a cochlear implant between ages 6 and 18 months of age. All children were learning to communicate via listening and spoken language in English-speaking families.
Main Outcome Measure:
Standard scores on receptive vocabulary, expressive, and receptive language (includes grammar).
Results:
Children with CI surgery at 6 to 11 months (n = 27) achieved higher scores on all measures as compared with those with surgery at 12 to 18 months (n = 42). Regression analysis revealed a linear relationship between age of implantation and language outcomes throughout the 6- to 18-month surgery-age range.
Conclusion:
For children in intervention programs emphasizing listening and spoken language, cochlear implantation before 12 months of age seems to provide a significant advantage for spoken language achievement observed at 4.5 years of age.