Auditory neuropathy: unexpectedly common in a screened newborn population.

Auditory neuropathy, or dyssynchrony, is defined by an abnormal or absent auditory brainstem response but intact otoacoustic emissions or cochlear microphonics. It is associated with impaired hearing on behavioural pure-tone audiometry, absent acoustic reflexes, and poor speech perception, particularly in noisy environments. These results suggest a disorder of inner hair-cell and or eighth-nerve function.

Infections following cochlear implantation.

Cochlear implantation has become routine in the management of children and adults with profound sensorineural hearing loss. In rare cases postoperative infections necessitate removal of the implant. We present six such cases that have been managed within our programme.

Cochlear implantation--United Kingdom and Ireland surgical survey.

Cochlear implantation has now become a routine procedure in the management of severe to profound deafness. An initial survey was carried out in late 1997 of the surgeons carrying out implantation in the United Kingdom and Ireland, requesting details of medical and surgical aspects of cochlear implantation. A follow-up survey was conducted in early 2002 to evaluate any changes in clinical practice.

Tracheal agenesis with unique anatomy.

A premature infant with a unique form of tracheal agenesis is described. The combination of difficulty in intubation, abnormal course of the nasogastric tube on plain x-ray, and gastric perforation raised the suspicion of an upper airway malformation. Tracheal agenesis is an extremely rare, typically fatal, congenital anomaly with scattered case reports of its successful management.

Surgical complications and their management in a series of 300 consecutive pediatric cochlear implantations.

Objective: To report the short- and long-term complications encountered in a large number of consecutive children undergoing implantation in a single center. The current study also describes the management and sequelae of each complication.

Study Design: Prospective study assessing the surgical findings and complications of deaf children undergoing implantation.

Predicting speech perception outcomes following cochlear implantation using Nottingham children's implant profile (NChIP).

Background/objective: Nottingham children's implant profile (NChIP) is a systematic framework to assess deaf children before implantation taking into account not only the well-known factors (age, duration of deafness) but also family and support services, expectations, children's cognitive abilities and learning style. The aim of the present paper is to assess the predictive value of the NChIP in the long-term outcomes of implanted children.

Patients: This prospective and longitudinal study involved 51 profoundly deaf children, implanted within the same paediatric cochlear implant programme.

Assessing candidate children for cochlear implantation with the Nottingham Children's Implant Profile (NChIP): the first 200 children.

Background/objective: Nottingham Children's Implant Profile (NChIP) is a profile designed to assess candidate children for cochlear implantation. It includes the demographic details of the children (chronological age and duration of deafness), medical and radiological conditions, the outcomes of audiological assessments, language and speech abilities, multiple handicaps or disabilities, family structure and support, educational environment, the availability of support services, expectations of the family and deaf child, cognitive abilities, and learning style. The aim of the present study is to present the NChIP data obtained on the first 200 children implanted in the same cochlear implant programme and evaluate NChIP's use in the selection phase of cochlear implantation.

Use of vocalic information in the identification of /s/ and /sh/ by children with cochlear implants.

Objective: When a syllable such as "sea" or "she" is spoken, listeners with normal hearing extract evidence of the fricative consonant from both the fricative noise and the following vocalic segment. If the fricative noise is made ambiguous, listeners may still perceive "s" or "sh" categorically, depending on information in the vocalic segment. Do children whose auditory experience comes from electrical stimulation also display this effect, in which a subsequent segment of speech disambiguates an earlier segment?

Design: Unambiguous vowels were appended to ambiguous fricative noises to form tokens of the words "she," "sea," "shoe," and "Sue.

Surgery and functional outcomes in deaf children receiving cochlear implants before age 2 years.

Objective: To examine the feasibility of cochlear implantation in children younger than 2 years regarding surgery and functional outcomes.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Tertiary pediatric cochlear implant center.