Benefits of Cochlear Implants in children
Do deaf children benefit from having a Cochlear implant and if so how? Does it give them a better future, improved opportunity for education and are there social benefits?
Research into the benefits of Cochlear Implants in children focuses on the acquisition of language. In an overwhelmingly majority of cases where children have no health issues except deafness, Cochlear implantation enhances quality of life. The earlier the implantation the more likely the child will develop hearing, speech, language and cognitive skills at a level similar to a normal hearing child. They can be educated in mainstream schools leading to the same career opportunities. Parents of implanted children report their child after implant is easier to manage, shows less frustration and interacts better socially. The child fits in and can do most of the things their hearing peers can (eg use a phone, go to the movies). Bi-lateral implantation generally gives them better sound direction and music understanding.
In 2002 there were 45,000 child cochlear implantees with 50% of these under 18 years of age.(10) Since 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, the parents who chose implants for their children did so because they felt they would have a better chance and more options in life if they were able to hear and speak well.(10)
• Children with Cochlear Implants are more likely to speak clearly.(6)
• Age when implant occurs is critical and needs to be in the early hearing development phase before children are two years old.(4,5,10)
• Language development in children who receive implants before the age of 12 months was greater than for those who received implants from 1 year to 2 years of age and matched the development of normally hearing peers.(5)
• Svirsky et al(9) in 2002 found that children after implant developed language at a rate which was greater than expected for deaf children and “was similar to that of children with normal hearing” and their method of learning was similar to that of hearing children.
• The Dettman et al study(5) found that children implanted before 12 months old developed language and comprehension at a similar rate to their hearing peers. And these children were significantly better than those implanted after 12 months of age.
• Children implanted before 12 months generally overtake those implanted later in terms of speech and linguistic development.(5)
• Testing linguistic development in children with implants under 2 years of age is difficult. However testing in children who are old enough to understand found that those who received a Cochlear Implant before 2 years of age did not face as many quality of life issues as those who did not receive treatment.(5)
• In 1999 a study showed that with 2 years of implant use deaf children implanted early had intelligible speech.(2)
• Visual attention in deaf children 6-13 years was considerably worse than their hearing peers. However, older children with a Cochlear Implant had caught up.(6).
• In a research on visual attention “hearing children and older deaf children using a cochlear implant reached higher levels of performance with age than did deaf children without enhanced access to sound.”(7)
• The Smith et al(7) study found that hearing/sound information is essential for the “cognitive, behavioural and social development” in children and Kochkin et al(1) found that all children implanted demonstrate better sound recognition. Therefore, a Cochlear Implant must have an impact on normal behavioural and social development.
• Children with cochlear implants who have no other development issues are able to attend mainstream schooling as opposed to specialist deaf schools and they keep up with their hearing peers.(8)
• In 1999 a study conducted by Tomblin et al(9) found that children with a cochlear implant outperformed their deaf peers as well as those who wore hearing aids in language achievement. This lead Tomblin to the conclusion that “children who receive Cochlear Implants benefit in the form of improved English language comprehension and production.”
• The greatest benefits of using a Cochlear implant at school were seen as the awareness of sounds, hearing music, language, the teacher and better able to participate.(10)
• The greatest frustrations of using a Cochlear implant were seen as other people expect the child to be fully hearing, background noise, batteries dying, teasing by other children and the processor falling off.(10)
• In the Christiansen et al study(10) very few reported psychological difficulties after implantation.
• In a study of 17 students who had had cochlear implants between the ages of 5 and 11 years it was found:(11)
Research into the benefits of Cochlear Implants in children focuses on the acquisition of language. In an overwhelmingly majority of cases where children have no health issues except deafness, Cochlear implantation enhances quality of life. The earlier the implantation the more likely the child will develop hearing, speech, language and cognitive skills at a level similar to a normal hearing child. They can be educated in mainstream schools leading to the same career opportunities. Parents of implanted children report their child after implant is easier to manage, shows less frustration and interacts better socially. The child fits in and can do most of the things their hearing peers can (eg use a phone, go to the movies). Bi-lateral implantation generally gives them better sound direction and music understanding.
In 2002 there were 45,000 child cochlear implantees with 50% of these under 18 years of age.(10) Since 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, the parents who chose implants for their children did so because they felt they would have a better chance and more options in life if they were able to hear and speak well.(10)
• Children with Cochlear Implants are more likely to speak clearly.(6)
• Age when implant occurs is critical and needs to be in the early hearing development phase before children are two years old.(4,5,10)
• Language development in children who receive implants before the age of 12 months was greater than for those who received implants from 1 year to 2 years of age and matched the development of normally hearing peers.(5)
• Svirsky et al(9) in 2002 found that children after implant developed language at a rate which was greater than expected for deaf children and “was similar to that of children with normal hearing” and their method of learning was similar to that of hearing children.
• The Dettman et al study(5) found that children implanted before 12 months old developed language and comprehension at a similar rate to their hearing peers. And these children were significantly better than those implanted after 12 months of age.
• Children implanted before 12 months generally overtake those implanted later in terms of speech and linguistic development.(5)
• Testing linguistic development in children with implants under 2 years of age is difficult. However testing in children who are old enough to understand found that those who received a Cochlear Implant before 2 years of age did not face as many quality of life issues as those who did not receive treatment.(5)
• In 1999 a study showed that with 2 years of implant use deaf children implanted early had intelligible speech.(2)
• Visual attention in deaf children 6-13 years was considerably worse than their hearing peers. However, older children with a Cochlear Implant had caught up.(6).
• In a research on visual attention “hearing children and older deaf children using a cochlear implant reached higher levels of performance with age than did deaf children without enhanced access to sound.”(7)
• The Smith et al(7) study found that hearing/sound information is essential for the “cognitive, behavioural and social development” in children and Kochkin et al(1) found that all children implanted demonstrate better sound recognition. Therefore, a Cochlear Implant must have an impact on normal behavioural and social development.
• Children with cochlear implants who have no other development issues are able to attend mainstream schooling as opposed to specialist deaf schools and they keep up with their hearing peers.(8)
• In 1999 a study conducted by Tomblin et al(9) found that children with a cochlear implant outperformed their deaf peers as well as those who wore hearing aids in language achievement. This lead Tomblin to the conclusion that “children who receive Cochlear Implants benefit in the form of improved English language comprehension and production.”
• The greatest benefits of using a Cochlear implant at school were seen as the awareness of sounds, hearing music, language, the teacher and better able to participate.(10)
• The greatest frustrations of using a Cochlear implant were seen as other people expect the child to be fully hearing, background noise, batteries dying, teasing by other children and the processor falling off.(10)
• In the Christiansen et al study(10) very few reported psychological difficulties after implantation.
• In a study of 17 students who had had cochlear implants between the ages of 5 and 11 years it was found:(11)
| Test | Result |
| Open-set speech perception | All children got 26% to 100% |
| Speech intelligibility | All scored 90% or higher |
| Language & reading compared to normal hearing children | 65% within average for language >70% within average for reading |
