AUTHOR=Falcón Benítez Nadia , Falcón González Juan Carlos , Ramos Macías Ángel , Borkoski Barreiro Silvia , Ramos de Miguel Ángel 

TITLE=Cochlear Implants in Single-Sided Deafness. Comparison Between Children and Adult Populations With Post-lingually Acquired Severe to Profound Hearing Loss

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2021.760831

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2021.760831

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=Objective:   to determine audiological and clinical results of CI comparing two populations with SSD: post-lingual deaf children between 6 to 12 years of age, and post-lingually deaf adult population, in order to evaluate the effect of CI in different age group.
Design: Retrospective case review
Setting: Tertiary clinic
Patients and Method: 23 Children  and 21 adult patients that were candidate to CI  with single side deafness  . In all cases we evaluate: Speech perception thresholds; disyllabic words test (65 dB SPL) were performed in the modalities S0 – SCI – SNH  and Auditory Lateralization Test. Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) questionnaire was also used. All results were obtained after 12 months of CI activation.

Results: In children, the most common aetiology was idiopathic sensory-neural hearing loss. They showed positive results in the Auditory Lateralization Test.  The Speech Test, children showed Word recognition in noise improved from 2% , preoperatively to 61.1%  at a mean follow-up of 1year (S0 condition), test with Signal in CI side 60%  and Signal normal hearing side (plugged) 31% . Processor was used for >12 hours in all cases. With respect to the SSQ questionnaire  the parents were more satisfied within the postoperative period than within the preoperative period. For adults  the most common aetiology was idiopathic sudden SNHL. Positive results in the Auditory Lateralization Test were found. With respect to the Speech Test in quiet: Word recognition in noise improved from 5.7%  preoperatively to 71.8%  at a mean follow-up of 1year, test with Signal in CI side and 68%  and Signal normal hearing side (plugged) 41%.  Processor was used for >12 hours. The SSQ questionnaire: ,the post-operative results show a beneficial effect of the CI. No adverse events were reported during the study period. No differences were found between children and adults in all tests in this study.
Conclusions: Cochlear implantation in post-lingually deaf adults and children with SSD can achieve a speech perception outcome comparable with CI in conventional candidates. Improvements in spatial hearing were also observed Careful patient selection and counselling regarding potential benefits are important to optimize outcomes.