Journal article
Speech detection and localization results and clinical outcomes for children receiving sequential bilateral cochlear implants before four years of age
KL Galvin, M Mok, RC Dowell, RJ Briggs
International Journal of Audiology | Published : 2008
Abstract
The aim of this study was to describe the adaptation to bilateral cochlear implant use and the perceptual benefits demonstrated by 10 children who were successful users of a first implant when a second was received before four years of age. Although one subject rejected the second implant at switch-on, the nine subjects who accepted the device adapted easily to bilateral implant use and developed useful listening skills with the second implant. Tests of localization (left versus right) and speech detection in noise were administered in the unilateral and bilateral conditions, usually after six months experience. All subjects demonstrated some bilateral benefit on speech detection testing (mo..
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Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
The authors are very grateful to the children and families who participated in this research, and to the clinicians and surgeons of the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital Cochlear Implant Clinic, who provided audiological and medical management of the participants. Thanks are also due to Dr Richard van Hoesel for providing the localization software; David Grayden for adapting his AdSpon software to suit the purposes of the study; Mark Harrison for technical support; and Dr Julia Sarant for comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. Financial support for this work was provided by The University of Melbourne's Department of Otolaryngology; The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne; The William Angliss Foundation; The Collier Fund; and the National Health and Medical Research Council (Project Grant no. 454318).