title: United Kingdom national paediatric bilateral cochlear implant audit: preliminary results.
abstract: Prior to 2009, United Kingdom (UK) public funding was mainly only available for children to receive unilateral cochlear implants. In 2009, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published guidance for cochlear implantation following their review. According to these guidelines, all suitable children are eligible to have simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants or a sequential bilateral cochlear implant if they had received the first before the guidelines were published. Fifteen UK cochlear implant centres formed a consortium to carry out a multi-centre audit. The audit involves collecting data from simultaneously and sequentially implanted children at four intervals: before bilateral cochlear implants or before the sequential implant, 1, 2, and 3 years after bilateral implants. The measures include localization, speech recognition in quiet and background noise, speech production, listening, vocabulary, parental perception, quality of life, and surgical data including complications. The audit has now passed the 2-year point, and data have been received on 850 children. This article provides a first view of some data received up until March 2012.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cullington
authors.forename: Devyanee
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bele
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brinton
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lutman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000601:surgery*; D006312:Hearing Loss, Bilateral / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008485:Medical Audit; D009622:Noise; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013060:Speech; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D006113:United Kingdom; D014825:Vocabulary
keywords: Bilateral cochlear implant; Cochlear implant; Paediatric audit