Is the bilateral cochlear implantation necessary for avoidance of auditory deprivation in deaf children?

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to investigate the influence of the cochlear implantation in prelingual deaf children on maturation of the auditory pathways. Auditory deprivation may result in morphological and physiological changes in the central auditory nervous system. In prelingual deaf children, some of these deafness-induced changes may be preventable or partially reversible by application of a cochlear implant (CI). It is without doubt that an early cochlear implantation in prelingual deaf children shows good evidence of speech reception and language development as well as speech production. In some studies, there is a clear benefit from binaural versus monaural hearing aid amplification in..