[Benefit of bilateral cochlear implantation on congenital prelingually deafened Chinese-speaking children].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the benefit of bilateral cochlear implants (BCIs) in prelingually deafened children on hearing rehabilitation as well as on speech and language development.


METHODS
Two cases of congenital profound deaf children, who received unilateral cochlear implantation (CI, MEDEL C40+) on the age of 2 and 7.5, respectively, were performed secondary CI in the contralateral ear on their age of 5 and 9.5, respectively. One year after the secondary CI, the cochlear implant aided hearing threshold and speech discrimination rate were tested for both ears separately and together. The pronounce/speech distinct rate of the BCIs users were evaluated by their parents, surgeon and audiologist.


RESULTS
In comparison to unilateral aided ear, the mean hearing threshold at the frequency 250-4,000 Hz of the 2 cases with BCIs decreased by 13 dB and 11 dB, respectively. The speech discrimination rate of the BCIs users increased by 9% and 10%, respectively. The speech recognition in noise was improved. And their pronounce/speech distinct was improved.


CONCLUSIONS
BCIs can provide a significant benefit in hearing, speech understanding, language development and pronounce/speech rehabilitation for prelingually deafened children.
Kong
Weijia
W
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022.
Yu
Lisheng
L
Xu
You
Y
Yue
Jianxin
J
Xiong
Xingao
X
Zhu
Lixin
L
Duan
Jiade
J
D002648:Child; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000379:methods; D006312:Hearing Loss, Bilateral / Q000151:congenital* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013067:Speech Perception; D013069:Speech Reception Threshold Test; D016896:Treatment Outcome