Results of Pediatric Cochlear Implantation Compared with Results Obtained with Hearing Aids

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Abstract
Objectives: The performance of cochlear implanted children was evaluated in comparison with results of children wearing hearing aids. Patients and Methods: 88 cochlear implanted children were included in this study. Onset of deafness was prelingual (except 1 perilingual), mean age at implantation was 5.4 years (range 1–17.2), preoperative pure tone average (PTA) ranged from 130 to 83 dB HL in the better ear with a mean value of 110.5 dB HL. The hearing aid group consisted of 34 children with prelingual onset of hearing loss. PTA ranged from 122 to 46 dB HL, mean age at test was 5.3 years (range 1.3–15.4). The ‘Frankfurt Functional Hearing Test’ was used for evaluation. Based on the results of the hearing aid group, predicted performance with hearing aids was calculated individually for all cochlear implanted children and compared to the actual results with cochlear implants. Results and Conclusions: Results of cochlear implanted children improved steadily after implantation, progressing from a compound score of 22% prior to implantation to 72.2% after 4–9 years. Actual performance with cochlear implants was significantly better than predicted values with hearing aids. Children implanted prior to age 6 showed a greater benefit and faster improvements after implantation than children implanted later. The performance of children implanted beween age 2 and 4 was equivalent to the mean performance of children with hearing loss of 70–85 dB wearing hearing aids.

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