Corrigendum to "Auditory and language development in children with cochlear implants: A retrospective longitudinal...

This study aimed to evaluate and compare the auditory and language development in children with unilateral cochlear implants (UnCIs), sequential bilateral cochlear implants (SeqBiCIs), and simulatenous bilateral cochlear implants (SimBiCIs).

This retrospective longitudinal study included 28 children: 9 with UnCIs, 11 with SeqBiCIs, and 8 with SimBiCIs. Auditory and language development were assessed using the Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS) and the Test of Early Language Development-Third Edition (TELD-3), respectively. MAIS scores were collected at three time points: preoperatively (pre-op), and at two postoperative followups (post-op₁ and post-op₂). TELD-3 scores were obtained at two postoperative time points, corresponding to post-op1 and post-op2 assessments.

The MAIS score comparisons showed no significant differences between the UnCIs, SeqBiCIs, and SimBiCI groups in the pre-op evaluation (p = 0.22). At post-op₁, significant differences observed (p = 0.004), with SeqBiCIs outperforming UnCIs (p = 0.004). At post-op₂, MAIS scores differed significantly (p = 0.001), with bilateral groups scoring higher than UnCIs (SeqBiCIs vs. UnCIs, p = 0.006; SimBiCIs vs. UnCIs, p = 0.001). TELD-3 receptive language scores did not differ at post-op₁ (p = 0.13), but were significantly higher in SimBiCIs than SeqBiCIs (p = 0.002) and UnCIs (p = 0.011) at post-op₂. Expressive language scores showed no group differences at post-op₁ (p = 0.19), but were significantly higher in SimBiCIs compared to SeqBiCIs (p = 0.013) and UnCIs (p = 0.002) at post-op₂. Mixed ANOVA analyses indicated that the fastest auditory and language development in SimBiCIs, followed by SeqBiCIs, with UnCIs showing the slowest progress.

Bilateral cochlear implantation, particularly when performed simultaneously, yields superior outcomes in auditory and language development compared to unilateral implantation.