The effects of age at cochlear implantation and hearing aid trial on auditory performance of Chinese infants.
CONCLUSIONS
Most of the infants demonstrated rapid improvement in the three different auditory skills within the first year after switch-on. Infants undergoing hearing aid trial and habilitation demonstrated a significant positive effect on the development of auditory skills in comparison with infants without trial and habilitation.


OBJECTIVE
This paper aims to evaluate the auditory performance of infants of different age at cochlear implantation, emphasize the importance of the hearing aid trial and habilitation before implant, and provide baseline data of auditory development.


METHODS
In all, 259 infants with prelingually profound hearing loss participated in this study. The Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS) was used to assess auditory skills in infants at different intervals.


RESULTS
The mean scores for the auditory skills improved significantly over time. The mean scores of three skills for each group at each interval were significantly different. The mean scores of the auditory skills were significantly superior for infants undergoing hearing aid trial and habilitation in comparison with those of infants without hearing aid trial and habilitation.
Chen
Xueqing
X
Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (Ministry of Education), Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Beijing 100005, China.
Liu
Sha
S
Liu
Bo
B
Mo
Lingyan
L
Kong
Ying
Y
Liu
Haihong
H
Gong
Shusheng
S
Han
Demin
D
Zhang
Luo
L
D000367:Age Factors; D044466:Asian People; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D012046:Rehabilitation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014705:Verbal Behavior