Comparison of the development of early auditory and preverbal skills in Mandarin-Speaking children with cochlear implants with and without additional disabilities

Abstract

Background: Few studies had assessed the auditory and preverbal skills of very young cochlear implant (CI) children with additional disabilities (AD) over a long period, especially in China.Aims/Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the early auditory and preverbal developmental trajectories in CI children with and without AD.Material and Methods: The LittlEARS® Auditory Questionnaire (LEAQ) was employed. 29 typically developing (TD) children and 17 with AD were involved (age at implantation less than 2 years).Results: All children showed significant improvement in total LEAQ scores with CI use. Children with cerebral palsy (CP), developmental delay (DD) and white matter lesions (WML) scored lower than TD children since 3 months of CI use; a decreasing trend was observed from 24, 18 and 18 months of CI use, respectively. Children with higher nonverbal developmental quotients exhibited superior early auditory and preverbal skills.Conclusions and significance: The development of early auditory and preverbal skills among CI-using children progressed more slowly in those with AD (CP, DD or WML) than in TD children, but the differences between the two groups gradually diminished over time. Nonverbal cognitive status has a positive effect on early auditory and preverbal abilities.