Objective: To evaluate the benefit of bilateral cochlear implants (BCIs) in prelingually deafened children on hearing rehabilitation as well as on speech and language development.
Method: Two cases of congenital profound deaf children, who received unilateral cochlear implantation (CI, MEDEL C40+) on the age of 2 and 7.5, respectively, were performed secondary CI in the contralateral ear on their age of 5 and 9.5, respectively. One year after the secondary CI, the cochlear implant aided hearing threshold and speech discrimination rate were tested for both ears separately and together. The pronounce/speech distinct rate of the BCIs users were evaluated by their parents, surgeon and audiologist.
Result: In comparison to unilateral aided ear, the mean hearing threshold at the frequency 250-4,000 Hz of the 2 cases with BCIs decreased by 13 dB and 11 dB, respectively. The speech discrimination rate of the BCIs users increased by 9% and 10%, respectively. The speech recognition in noise was improved. And their pronounce/speech distinct was improved.
Conclusion: BCIs can provide a significant benefit in hearing, speech understanding, language development and pronounce/speech rehabilitation for prelingually deafened children.