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77th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

24.05. - 28.05.2006, Mannheim

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Cochlear implantation in children – what can we expect?

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  • corresponding author Klaus Albegger - Univ.Dept. of ORL, Salzburg, Österreich
  • Maria Huber - Univ.Dept. of ORL, Salzburg, Österreich
  • Alois Mair - Univ.Dept. of ORL, Salzburg, Österreich
  • Martin Leyerer - Univ.Dept. of ORL, Salzburg, Österreich

German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 77th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Mannheim, 24.-28.05.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. Doc06hno012

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hno2006/06hno012.shtml

Published: September 7, 2006

© 2006 Albegger et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Objectives: As shown by many studies, deaf children benefit considerably by cochlear implants (CI) concerning hearing and oral language. There are few data regarding educational status, transition from school to work and health-related quality of life.

Since 1992, 300 deaf children were supplied with a Cochlear implant at the CI Center Salzburg. Many of them have now grown up to adolescents and young adults. For some the transition from school to work has already taken place and for others will occur in the short term. The purpose of this study was to evaluate their educational status, vocational training, employment status and quality of life as a critical longterm evaluation of CI in children.

Methods: Candidates. for this survey were all Austrians implanted in Salzburg, ranging between 12-21 years (when interviewed), pre-perilingual deafened and with at least 3 years of hearing experience with their CI. For these 45 adolescents and 19 adults, medical and audiological data are available. They and their parents were asked to complete structured paper and pencil interviews. Normal hearing contemporaries (age- matched) with their parents serve(d) as control groups. Additionally, all adolescents up to 17 years, their parents and their teachers complete(d) the `Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire´ (SDQ).

Results: Up to now results from 33 participants (23 adolescents and 10 adults) are currently available. Of these, 82% attend(ed) mainstream- schools, and 30% are (were) in secondary grammar schools. From the nine individuals no longer attending school, one presently studies at the university, four have regular apprenticeships, three are employed and one is unemployed. All are wearing their CI continuously at a daily basis. The results of the SDQ revealed that adolescents with CI did not show more health disorders (19 self, 21 parents out of 45) as compared with their hearing contemporaries (112 self, 58 parents out of 152).