Advantages of cochlear implantation in prelingual deaf children before 2 years of age when compared with later implantation.

Objectives: To compare the auditory abilities and speech performance of children with a profound prelingual bilateral hearing-impairment when subjected to a cochlear implant (CI) before or after 2 years of age. To analyze the complications that arose during, or as a result of, the implantation process in these groups.

Design: Prospective cohort single-subject, repeated-measures study of children with profound bilateral hearing impairment subjected to CI.

Setting: Tertiary referral center with a program of pediatric CI from 1991.

Patients: This study analyzed 130 children subjected to multichannel CI for profound prelingual bilateral hearing-impairment in two age groups: 0 to 2 (n = 36) and 2 to 6 years of age (n = 94).

Interventions: The children were evaluated before, and each year after, the intervention (for up to 5 years) with both closed-set and open-set auditory and speech perception tests. Their speech ability was evaluated according to the Peabody Picture Vocabulary and Reynell general oral expression scales.

Results: Auditory and speech perception tests improved significantly in all children after CI, regardless of the follow-up time. The infant's performance was better the earlier the implant was performed. Speech tests showed that the development of children treated before 2 years of age was similar to normal children, and no additional complications were observed when compared with CI in older children.

Conclusions: When performed before 2 years of age, CI offers a quicker and better improvement of performance without augmenting the complications associated with such an intervention.