The Nucleus Children's Program

Two programs have been developed for the selection and rehabilitation of children to receive the Nucleus 22-channel cochlear implant system. One program focuses on postlingually deafened children from the ages of 10 to 17, while the other is designed for deafened children from 2 to 9 years. Each has been approved under separate IDEs by the Food and Drug Administration. The selection criteria for these two programs are described. Preliminary results for two adolescents implanted with the Nucleus multichannel device are also presented. Complete pre- and postevaluation results are shown for one adolescent who has completed a ten-week rehabilitation program. Initial findings suggest that hearing-only skills can be developed in this population and that children with short-term deafness may be able to develop some degree of open-set speech recognition without lipreading.