Speech and language outcomes of cochlear implantation in children with isolated auditory neuropathy versus cochlear hearing loss.

Objective: Children with auditory neuropathy (AN) have variable hearing on pure tone testing, and the presence of speech and language delays often play a major role in the decision to offer cochlear implantation (CI) in this population. Despite this fact, the speech and language outcomes in this group after CI are not well described. This study compares speech and language outcomes after CI in a subset of the pediatric AN population that does not have a confounding cognitive disorder with those of their peers with cochlear hearing loss (CoHL).

Study Design: Retrospective chart review.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Patients: Seventeen pediatric patients with AN who received a CI and a group of children with CoHL who received a CI were the subjects of this study. The 2 groups demonstrated similar ages at implant. Children with cognitive delays were excluded from each group.

Intervention: Cochlear implantation.

Main Outcome Measures: All subjects were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively with standardized age appropriate speech and language measures, including the Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT), Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), and Preschool Language Scale (PLS).

Results: There was no significant difference between the groups on age of activation of the CI. Children with a diagnosis of AN had a significantly lower unaided pure tone average preoperatively as compared with children with cochlear hearing loss; however, there was no significant difference between the groups on either their preimplantation or postimplantation speech and language scores.

Conclusion: Children with a diagnosis of AN without associated cognitive or developmental disorders have speech and language outcomes comparable to other children who received a CI.