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Barriers to Cochlear Implant Access: Acknowledging the Challenges,Changing the Future: The Importance of Access to Bilateral Hearing through Cochlear Implants in Children |
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| Authors: | Karen A. Gordon Blake C. Papsin Vicky Papaioannou Sharon L. Cushing |
| Affiliation: | 1.Archie''s Cochlear Implant Laboratory, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada;2.Department of Communication Disorders, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada;3.Department of Otolaryngology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada;4.Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada |
| Abstract: | Children with hearing loss require early access to sound in both ears to support their development. In this article, we describe barriers to providing bilateral hearing and developmental consequences of delays during early sensitive periods. Barriers include late identification of hearing loss in one or both ears and delayed access to intervention with hearing devices such as cochlear implants. Effects of delayed bilateral input on the auditory pathways and brain are discussed as well as behavioral effects on speech perception and other developmental outcomes including language and academics. Evidence for these effects has supported an evolution in cochlear implant candidacy in children that was started with unilateral implantation in children with profound deafness bilaterally to bilateral implantation to implantation of children with asymmetric hearing loss including children with single-side deafness. Opportunities to enhance the developmental benefits of bilateral hearing in children with hearing loss are also discussed including efforts to improve binaural/spatial hearing and consideration of concurrent vestibular deficits which are common in children with hearing loss. |
| Keywords: | deafness bilateral cochlear implants bimodal hearing universal hearing screening sensitive periods cytomegalovirus binaural/spatial hearing aural preference |