Clinical and logopaedic results of simultaneous and sequential bilateral implants in children with severe and/or profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss: A literature review.
This article carries out a literature review of the advantages and limitations of the simultaneous bilateral cochlear implantation (SCI) compared to those of the sequential bilateral cochlear implantation (SBCI) and the unilateral cochlear implantation (UCI). The variables analysed in said comparison are: safety and surgical technique, SCI incidence, effectiveness, impact of the inter-implant interval, costs and financing, impact on brain plasticity, impact on speech and language development, main benefits, main disadvantages and concerns, and predictive factors of prognosis. Although the results are not conclusive, all variables analysed seem to point towards observable benefits of SCI in comparison with SBCI or UCI. This tendency should be studied in more depth in multicentre studies with higher methodological rigour, more comprehensive samples and periods and other determining variables (age at the time of implantation, duration and degree of the hearing loss, rehabilitation methodologies used, family involvement, etc.).
Department of Comparative Education & History of Education, University of Valencia, Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez 30, 46010 Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: lopezm@uv.es.
Manuel
M
López-Torrijo
Department of Comparative Education & History of Education, University of Valencia, Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez 30, 46010 Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: santiago.mengual@uv.es.
Santiago
S
Mengual-Andrés
Department of Comparative Education & History of Education, University of Valencia, Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez 30, 46010 Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: resfe@alumni.uv.es.
Remedios
R
Estellés-Ferrer
D002648:Child; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D006312:Hearing Loss, Bilateral / Q000601:surgery*; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D013067:Speech Perception
Bilateral cochlear implant; Cochlear implant; Sequential bilateral cochlear implant; Simultaneous bilateral cochlear implant; Unilateral cochlear implant