Time course from cochlear implant surgery to non-use for congenitally deaf recipients implanted as children over ten years ago.
Catherine Killan, Han Cao, Angela Cordingley and 1 others
PMID 38107197WHAT IT FOUND
Children who stopped using cochlear implants were most likely to reject them around ages 9 to 11 or in early adulthood.
All had relied on sign language or gesture as their main communication mode. This describes a pattern of risk rather than proving that any specific factor causes non-use.
Key findings
01The ages at which children stopped using their implants clustered around 9 to 11 years and again in early adulthood, with some ceasing use as long as 17 to 25 years after their first surgery.
02Every child in this group relied on British Sign Language or gesture as their primary receptive and expressive communication mode, and each had at least two documented risk factors for inconsistent use.
03Parent-reported scores for listening and speech use improved significantly over three years post-implantation, yet these children still later became non-users.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study could not calculate the proportion of non-users at the service over time because total numbers of paediatric surgeries and transfers were unknown. Data were collected for routine clinical care rather than research, leading to missing information and inconsistent time points for outcome measures. The date of non-use was based on when it was first recorded, which may have overestimated the true duration of device use if there was a delay in documentation. The study design cannot establish causal relationships between risk factors and non-use.
Declared interests
The authors declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, or publication of this article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that improving auditory and speech scores prevents a child from eventually rejecting their cochlear implant. In this group, parent-reported skills improved significantly over three years, yet all 17 patients later became non-users.