Bilateral cochlear implantation in children.

Aims: to determine the benefit of bilateral cochlear implantation in a child on speech and language development.

Method: This child got her first implant, a Nucleus 24-system, on the right side at the age of 2.5 years. The left side was implanted at the age of 4.4 years with a Nucleus 24Contour-system. On the right side she's now wearing an Esprit 24-speechprocessor (SPR). On the left side she has a Sprint-SPR. M. goes to a mainstream school and receives Speech and Language therapy in a Speech and Hearing Rehab Centre. The etiology of her deafness was hyperbilirubinemia. Auditory capacity and speech recognition tests were performed for both ears separately and together.

Results: Aided thresholds give a PTA of 28 dBA with the first implant, 22 dBA with the second implant and with both implants we get a PTA of 23 dBA. Results for speech identification and recognition demonstrated an increased performance when both implants are used together. Speech and language development was equivalent to the mean of age 4.5. At the time of testing M. was 4.8 years. At this time the speech and language development show no delays with normal hearing children.

Conclusions: bilateral cochlear implantation in children may have additional value for their speech and language development. Also, implantation may be considered when auditory neuropathy is likely.