[Bilateral cochlear implants in children: acquisition of binaural hearing].
OBJECTIVE
Several studies have indicated the benefit of bilateral cochlear implants in the acquisition of binaural hearing and bilateralism. In children with cochlear implants, is it possible to achieve binaurality after a second implant? When is the ideal time to implant them? The objective of this study was to analyse the binaural effect in children with bilateral implants and the differences between subjects with simultaneous and sequential implants with both short and long intervals.


METHODS
There were 90 patients between 1 and 2 years of age (the first surgery), implanted between 2000 and 2008. Of these, 25 were unilateral users and 65 bilateral; 17 patients had received simultaneous implants, 29 had sequential implants before 12 months after the first one (short interimplant period) and 19 after 12 months (long period). All of them were tested for silent and noisy verbal perception and a tonal threshold audiometry was performed.


RESULTS
The silent perception test showed that the simultaneous and short period sequential implant patients (mean: 84.67%) versus unilateral and long period sequential implants (mean: 79.66%), had a statistically-significant difference (P=0,23). Likewise, the noisy perception test showed a difference with statistical significance (P=0,22) comparing the simultaneous implanted and short period sequential implants (mean, 77.17%) versus unilateral implanted and long period sequential ones (mean: 69.32%).


CONCLUSIONS
The simultaneous and sequential short period implants acquired the advantages of binaural hearing.
Unidad de Hipoacusia-Programa de Implantes Cocleares, Servicio de Otorrinolaringología y Patología Cérvico-Facial, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular-Materno Infantil, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, España.
Angel
A
Ramos-Macías
Leopoldo
L
Deive-Maggiolo
Ovidio
O
Artiles-Cabrera
Rocío
R
González-Aguado
Silvia A
SA
Borkoski-Barreiro
Elizabeth
E
Masgoret-Palau
Juan C
JC
Falcón-González
Jorge
J
Bueno-Yanes
D002675:Child, Preschool; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant