Julia Sarant|David Harris|Lisa A. Bennet|S. Bant
Bilateral Versus Unilateral Cochlear Implants in Children
University of Melbourne|Monash University|University of Melbourne|University of Melbourne
brief objectives although established bilateral cochlear implants cis offer additional speech perception localization benefits many children severe profound hearing loss whether improved perceptual abilities facilitate significantly better language development yet clearly established aims study compare language abilities children unilateral bilateral cis quantify rate improvement language attributable bilateral cis document predictors language development children cis design receptive vocabulary language development 91 children assessed aged either 5 8 years old using peabody picture vocabulary test fourth edition either preschool language scales fourth edition clinical evaluation language fundamentals fourth edition respectively cognitive ability parent involvement childrens intervention education programs family reading habits also evaluated language outcomes examined using linear regression analyses influence elements parenting style child characteristics family background predictors outcomes examined results children using bilateral cis achieved significantly better vocabulary outcomes significantly higher scores core expressive language subscales clinical evaluation language fundamentals fourth edition comparable children unilateral cis scores preschool language scales fourth edition differ significantly children unilateral bilateral cis bilateral ci use found predict significantly faster rates vocabulary language development unilateral ci use magnitude effect moderated child age activation bilateral ci terms parenting style high levels parental involvement low amounts screen time time spent adults reading children facilitated significantly better vocabulary language outcomes terms child characteristics higher cognitive ability female sex predictive significantly better language outcomes family background factors examined tertiaryeducated primary caregivers family history hearing loss significantly predictive better outcomes birth order also found significant negative effect vocabulary language outcomes older sibling predicting 5 10 decrease scores conclusions children bilateral cis achieved significantly better vocabulary outcomes 8yearold children bilateral cis significantly better language outcomes children unilateral cis improvements moderated childrens ages first second cis outcomes also significantly predicted number factors related parenting child characteristics family background fiftyone percent variance vocabulary outcomes 59 69 variance language outcomes predicted regression models study compared language abilities children unilateral bilateral cochlear implants cis quantified rate language development attributable bilateral cis documented predictors language development children bilateral cis achieved significantly better vocabulary outcomes 8yearold children bilateral cis significantly better language outcomes improvements moderated childrens ages first second cis outcomes significantly predicted number factors related parenting child characteristics family background fiftyone percent variance vocabulary outcomes 59 69 variance language outcomes predicted regression models