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Early cochlear implantation leads to improved spatial hearing, but the impact on language development is less studied. In our longitudinal study, we assessed the language skills of young children with SSD and a cochlear implant CI. In particular, we investigated their narrative skills in comparison to two control groups: children with SSD without a CI, and children with bilateral normal hearing. We found that children with SSD and a CI performed in line with their normal-hearing peers with regard to narrative and verbal short-term memory skills.
Verbal short-term memory scores and grammar scores each correlated positively with narrative scores across all groups. Early grammar scores at 2β3 years of age could partially predict later narrative scores at 4β6 years of age. These results show that young children with prelingual SSD can benefit from early cochlear implantation to achieve age-appropriate language skills. The resulting absence of binaural hearing causes poor sound localization and speech perception in noise 1.
In addition, children with SSD are at risk for various developmental difficulties 2 , including impaired balance skills 3 and speech-language delay 4 , 5 , 6. Untreated SSD may also cause cortical reorganization in favor of the NH ear, known as the aural preference syndrome 7. Providing a cochlear implant CI to children with SSD can partially restore their bilateral sound perception and might enable binaural hearing.
Cochlear implantation is associated with improved sound localization and speech perception in noise in adults with acquired SSD 8 , 9 , 10 and children with SSD 11 , 12 , For children with congenital SSD, early cochlear implantation, during a period of high neuroplasticity, promotes optimal auditory outcomes 14 and may prevent or reduce the aural preference syndrome In an earlier study, we found that the CI also supported normal early grammar development in children with prelingual SSD 16 , but the impact on other aspects of language remains unclear.
