Hearing loss in childhood is a medical condition with adverse consequences stretching to their social and educational abilities. Therefore, rehabilitation in children with hearing loss does not only aim to restore hearing, but also to focus on unfolding their full developmental potential, with the ultimate goal to increase their wellbeing. A cochlear implant (CI) is an electronic medical device. It bypasses the hair cells in the cochlea by direct stimulation of the auditory nerve, which is not possible by conventional acoustical hearing devices. In children, the use of CI can partly reverse the effects of hearing loss on the brain. Furthermore, in children with bilateral CI at early age speech recognition and oral language development can reach the normal range, enabling participation in mainstream education and hearing society. However, daily adverse listening environments and complex language remain challenging in communication. Furthermore, there may be additional special needs in some young CI recipients. Finally, regional and cultural differences can also play a role. Therefore, key questions stand out on the quality of life (QoL) of children and adolescents with CI.
Over the last few decades, numerous studies and reviews have addressed the QoL of young CI recipients. However, following the STROBE checklist for observational studies the criteria of the World Health Organization for pediatric health related to quality of life changed (1994), meaning only a minority of studies used validated child-centered and age-appropriate QoL instruments. Moreover, despite the consensus that usually children and adolescents are the most prominent informants of their own QoL, in many papers, only the parents were asked. As a result, there are often difficulties that exist to validate and to interpret the results. Furthermore, associations with quantitative variables such as speech recognition (in quiet and in noise) and language development are not standard in clinical follow-up.
Hence, the use of a variety of validated generic or disease-specific QoL measures are important to determine rehabilitation satisfaction and existing needs. Unambiguous interpretation would also be important for clinical practical reasons.
This Research Topic aims to provide an overview of different pertinent aspects of QoL of young CI recipients. In this context, we specifically address behavioral and neural differences in QoL, for example due to societal, cultural and ethnical differences
A collection of high-quality papers addressing the theme of this Research Topic is not only timely for scientific reasons, but also for clinical practical reasons. It is important that parents, clinicians, and therapists become more aware of possible burdens on young CI users. Additionally, it would have an impact on professionals (teachers, psychologists) and policymakers in their decisions.
We seek original research articles, addressing very young children (4-8 years) children (8-12 years), and adolescents (12-18 years). We specifically invite papers examining a) behavioral variables such as speech recognition performance in quiet and noisy settings, and cognition performance, b) neural variables such as EEG- or fNIRS based outcomes and c) background variables such as duration of hearing loss, educational status, socioeconomic status (SES), migration background, language and Deaf Culture, living situation, and cultural values. Perspective Papers are also welcome, reviews are not.
Hearing loss in childhood is a medical condition with adverse consequences stretching to their social and educational abilities. Therefore, rehabilitation in children with hearing loss does not only aim to restore hearing, but also to focus on unfolding their full developmental potential, with the ultimate goal to increase their wellbeing. A cochlear implant (CI) is an electronic medical device. It bypasses the hair cells in the cochlea by direct stimulation of the auditory nerve, which is not possible by conventional acoustical hearing devices. In children, the use of CI can partly reverse the effects of hearing loss on the brain. Furthermore, in children with bilateral CI at early age speech recognition and oral language development can reach the normal range, enabling participation in mainstream education and hearing society. However, daily adverse listening environments and complex language remain challenging in communication. Furthermore, there may be additional special needs in some young CI recipients. Finally, regional and cultural differences can also play a role. Therefore, key questions stand out on the quality of life (QoL) of children and adolescents with CI.
Over the last few decades, numerous studies and reviews have addressed the QoL of young CI recipients. However, following the STROBE checklist for observational studies the criteria of the World Health Organization for pediatric health related to quality of life changed (1994), meaning only a minority of studies used validated child-centered and age-appropriate QoL instruments. Moreover, despite the consensus that usually children and adolescents are the most prominent informants of their own QoL, in many papers, only the parents were asked. As a result, there are often difficulties that exist to validate and to interpret the results. Furthermore, associations with quantitative variables such as speech recognition (in quiet and in noise) and language development are not standard in clinical follow-up.
Hence, the use of a variety of validated generic or disease-specific QoL measures are important to determine rehabilitation satisfaction and existing needs. Unambiguous interpretation would also be important for clinical practical reasons.
This Research Topic aims to provide an overview of different pertinent aspects of QoL of young CI recipients. In this context, we specifically address behavioral and neural differences in QoL, for example due to societal, cultural and ethnical differences
A collection of high-quality papers addressing the theme of this Research Topic is not only timely for scientific reasons, but also for clinical practical reasons. It is important that parents, clinicians, and therapists become more aware of possible burdens on young CI users. Additionally, it would have an impact on professionals (teachers, psychologists) and policymakers in their decisions.
We seek original research articles, addressing very young children (4-8 years) children (8-12 years), and adolescents (12-18 years). We specifically invite papers examining a) behavioral variables such as speech recognition performance in quiet and noisy settings, and cognition performance, b) neural variables such as EEG- or fNIRS based outcomes and c) background variables such as duration of hearing loss, educational status, socioeconomic status (SES), migration background, language and Deaf Culture, living situation, and cultural values. Perspective Papers are also welcome, reviews are not.
