Cochlear Implant in Prelingually Deaf Children: Our Experience

Retrospective study of the prelingual cochlear implantation programme under government scheme done at medical college hospital in central India. Forty-two prelingually deaf children screened and sent for cochlear implantation at our centre From March 2015 to Feb 2018 were reviewed with respect to their age, sex, preimplantation hearing aid use, surgical technique for cochlear implantation, type of FDA (USA) approved cochlear implant, post operative speech therapy and its outcome with respect to categories of auditory perception and speech intelligibility scoring were compared for children younger than 4 years and older than 4 years. For outcome measurement non parametric statistical method was used for any significance between the two groups. There was a wide range of children implanted ranging from 2 to 7 years. Both varia and mastoidectomy and posterior tympanotomy method of cochlear implantations were done with good rate complete insertion and electrode activation. There was no significant difference between the two group with regard to CAP and SIR outcomes after 1 year. In order to get better outcomes with respect to the speech language development, there is need to strengthen the early identification and cochlear implantation before 4 years of age in government approved schemes.