Early ear implants best for deaf children

Hearing-impaired children experience the greatest improvement in communication skills when inner ear or cochlear implants are placed early in life.Researchers from the Communication Consulting Services, USA, compared the communication skills of 107 hearing-impaired children who received cochlear implants and 109 normal-hearing children. These skills were assessed indirectly by having the parent complete a questionnaire. It was found that a large proportion of children, who received implants between 12 and 23 months of age, developed communication skills within a few months, which were comparable to those of normal hearing children. In contrast, nearly all children who received implants later in life had skills that lagged behind their peers with normal hearing.In another study, researchers from the Athens University, Greece, followed 82 deaf children who received implants before the age of 7 years. The implant procedures were performed before the age of 4 years in 38 children and later in 44 children. At 30 years after implantation, 60 percent of those in the younger group and 23 percent in the older group tested above the first percentile of normal-hearing children.

The findings show that implantation in children with profound hearing loss at the youngest age possible allows the best opportunity for them to acquire communication skills that approximate those of their peers with normal hearing.

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