Cochlear implantation in the very young child: issues unique to the under-1 population.
Since the advent of cochlear implantation, candidacy criteria have slowly broadened to include increasingly younger patients. Spurred by evidence demonstrating both perioperative safety and significantly increased speech and language benefit with early auditory intervention, children younger than 12 months of age are now being successfully implanted at many centers. This review highlights the unique challenges involved in cochlear implantation in the very young child, specifically diagnosis and certainty of testing, anesthetic risk, surgical technique, intraoperative testing and postoperative programming, long-term safety, development of receptive and expressive language, and outcomes of speech perception. Overall, the current body of literature indicates that cochlear implantation prior to 1 year of age is both safe and efficacious.
Cosetti
Maura
M
New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Roland
J Thomas
JT
D000367:Age Factors; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000009:adverse effects; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006320:Hearing Tests; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D018579:Patient Selection; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities; D012307:Risk Factors; D013067:Speech Perception; D016896:Treatment Outcome