Ages of hearing loss diagnosis and cochlear implantation in hearing impaired children

Early diagnosis of hearing loss lead to early intervention and improvement of developmental skills of children with hearing loss. The present study aimed to determine the mean age of hearing loss diagnosis and cochlear implantation (CI) in hearing impaired children and to compare the age of performing cochlear implantation in children who were identified by newborn hearing screening with those who were not.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 96 children with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss who received cochlear implantation in Amir-e-Alam cochlear implantation center between the years 2008 and 2010. For data gathering، we assessed subjects'' medical archives، interviewed with their parents and took medical history including demographic information، birth history and hearing loss history.

Mean age of hearing loss suspicion، diagnosis، hearing aids administration، Initiation of rehabilitation program، performing cochlear implantation and mean age when cochlear implantation was utilized were 6. 73 (SD=5. 79)، 9. 35 (SD=5. 79)، 13. 41 (SD=6. 10)، 16 (SD=6. 36)، 41. 25 (SD=11. 12)، and 42. 15 (SD=11. 00) months، respectively. There was statistically significant difference between them (p<0. 05). 43. 8% of hearing impaired children had been identified by newborn hearing screening. There was statistically significant difference between cochlear implantation operation age of children who were identified by newborn hearing screening with those who were not (p<0. 0001).

In spite of notable reduction in the age of hearing loss diagnosis and intervention during recent years، compared to international indices it is still tardy. Conducting newborn hearing screening can significantly reduce these ages.