Outcome of Cochlear Implant in Children at Assiut University Hospital

Hearing loss is one of the most common health problems affecting people around the world with an average international incidence of 5% .

In Egypt, it affects 16% of the population with an incidence of 14% in children less than 14 years old. 86% of deaf patients had conductive hearing loss (CHL), while sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) was found in 14%, with a male to female ratio of 3:2 HL .

Cochlear implantation (CI) has become a routine procedure in the United States and worldwide for the management of severe-to-profound SNHL loss. It is a remarkable example of success that was made possible through collaboration between engineers, surgeons, scientists and the medical community .

Early cochlear implantation had a long-term positive impact on auditory and verbal development, if auditory stimulation does not occur within this timeframe, the auditory system degenerates. It has been suggested that in the absence of normal auditory stimulation there is a period of about 3.5 years during which the central auditory system retains its maximum plasticity. This can extend in some children up to the age of approximately 7 years, after which it is significantly reduced. The earlier implantation causes better outcomes, including improved language development, speech perception and speech production skills .

Early research reviews found that the ability to communicate in spoken language was better the earlier the implantation was performed. These reviews also found that cochlear implants provide open set speech understanding for the majority of implanted profoundly hearing-impaired children, and that it was not possible to accurately predict the specific outcome of the given implanted child .