Cochlear Implants: Sooner Is Better For Deaf Children

[Kalista]

Electronic Devices Approved For Use In Kids As Young As 12 Months
POSTED: 5:05 p.m. EDT May 17, 2004

CHICAGO -- New research suggests the earlier deaf children get cochlear implants, the better.

Cochlear implants are small electronic devices that are surgically implanted in the ear that allow profoundly deaf people to hear.

In one study, researchers from the Communication Consulting Services in Indianapolis analyzed data on 107 children between the ages of 1 and 3. They found that the children improved rapidly in hearing skills during the first year after receiving the implants. The best results were in the youngest kids.

Another study of youngsters who got implants between the ages of 2 and 4 showed 80 percent who got them within a year of becoming deaf developed normal oral language skills.

The small electronic devices are approved for use in children as young as 12 months, but some doctors have begun implanting them in even younger hearing-impaired or deaf infants.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/3315158/detail.html

 

[Gemtun]

Sabrina,

While we are great friends, I need to disagree with you strongly. Don't shoot me

But I strongly agree with this study. I have a young deaf niece and she did not have her cochlear implant until she was 5 years old. When she got her CI, I was stunned to see how huge difference it made for her, compared to my brother and his wife (they all got CI's at the same time). I could see that it works much better for young children compared to adults, because young children have much more rapid brain recognitions of sounds whereas adults are slower in that.

Now my niece is 9 years old and she is doing remarkably well - she can understand speech without looking at the source of sound. She even corrects my speech LOL.

I am getting my cochlear implant activated today! But I know that I will not be able to understand and process sounds as rapidly as young children so I do not have high expectations.

 

[Opal]

Sabrina,

While we are great friends, I need to disagree with you strongly. Don't shoot me

But I strongly agree with this study. I have a young deaf niece and she did not have her cochlear implant until she was 5 years old. When she got her CI, I was stunned to see how huge difference it made for her, compared to my brother and his wife (they all got CI's at the same time). I could see that it works much better for young children compared to adults, because young children have much more rapid brain recognitions of sounds whereas adults are slower in that.

Now my niece is 9 years old and she is doing remarkably well - she can understand speech without looking at the source of sound. She even corrects my speech LOL.

I am getting my cochlear implant activated today! But I know that I will not be able to understand and process sounds as rapidly as young children so I do not have high expectations.

My friend is teacher-aide for 12 deaf children at kindergarten told me that 10 C.I children received good benefit of hearing and sound without watching teacher's lipreading, and understand what she said, but the other 2 C.I kids don't received any benefit at all!

 

[Gemtun]

10 out of 12 isn't bad.

Granted, CI does not work for everyone as much as oralism or wearing hearing aids does not work for everyone either.

 

[Liza]

It'll be still under the parents' power to decide regardless of others' conclusions. lol

 

[e]

:sigh:

yes its a great benefit for them BUT i hope this isn't gonna keep them from their own culture, lauguage and people.

one other thing, i feel very unsafe about implanting babies or very young kids. is it REALLY safe to do that? drilling and putting on the chip while the skull isnt 100% developed, yet? isnt it gonna damage the implant/part of ear as their skull grows?

in my opinion, i would let my kid growing up in speech/hearing therapy and when he/she is old enough to understand about implantation, let him/her decide wether they'd like to get implant.

PS: im still interested in CI but damn operation still scares me

 

[Cheri]

:sigh:

yes its a great benefit for them BUT i hope this isn't gonna keep them from their own culture, lauguage and people.

one other thing, i feel very unsafe about implanting babies or very young kids. is it REALLY safe to do that? drilling and putting on the chip while the skull isnt 100% developed, yet? isnt it gonna damage the implant/part of ear as their skull grows?

in my opinion, i would let my kid growing up in speech/hearing therapy and when he/she is old enough to understand about implantation, let him/her decide wether they'd like to get implant

I Have said the same thing in other Ci thread; Even through IMO I strongly believe they are too young.. I cannot imaged how I could see that on a Toddler that young. Like I said it's How I feel and even through some of you would not agree with me but that doesn't mean I am wrong to think that way.

 

[Crazymanw00t]

"Cochlear Implant equals as Stalin"

It said all

 

[Gemtun]

Whoa thats a too strong comment. Cochlear Implants are not comparable to Stalin.

 

[Alex]

Studies: Early implants aid deaf kids

By Lindsey Tanner
Associated Press

CHICAGO -- The earlier deaf children get cochlear implants, the more likely they are to speak and comprehend language normally later in life, new research suggests. In fact, some doctors say doing the surgery in infancy may produce the best results.

In one study, children ages 12 months to 3 years showed rapid improvement in understanding speech during the first year after receiving one of the electronic devices, with the best results in the youngest children.

In another study, 43 percent of children who got implants at age 2 had normal oral language abilities at ages 8 to 9, compared with 16 percent who got implants at age 4, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School researcher Ann Geers found.

Geers and other researchers say that very early childhood is an especially critical period in the development of language skills, during which children hear and imitate sounds around them.

Both studies appear in May's Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, published Monday.

Cochlear implants, typically implanted in one ear, use electrodes to transmit sounds to the auditory nerve and brain, bypassing nonfunctioning parts of the ear. The electronic devices are approved for use in children as young as 12 months, but some doctors have begun implanting them in even younger children.

"Babies spend quite a bit of time hearing and experiencing all kinds of sounds and speech in order to learn to talk," said Dr. Nancy Young, an ear specialist at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital.

The latest research did not look at whether putting implants in infants younger than one year yields better results than doing so at, say, 12 months or 18 months. And neither study looked at youngsters past age 9. But Geers said she believes waiting until after two years of age decrease the chances that a child will ever develop normal speech skills.

Of the 50 or so children who get cochlear implants yearly at the Chicago hospital where Young works, the youngest was a 7-month-old Chesterton, Ind., boy with inherited hearing loss who had the surgery in December.

The boy, Kevin Johnston, is now a babbling, cooing 1-year-old and tests show his speech skills are "right on target" for a child his age, said his mother, Cindy Johnston.

Johnston said it was "a no-brainer" to have Kevin's surgery so young. In the three-hour outpatient operation, a cochlear implant was installed in the baby's right ear.

Some activists for the deaf claim that the devices stigmatize deafness and are a repudiation of sign language, but the implants are becoming more accepted.

"Opposition is giving way to the perception that it is one of a continuum of possibilities for parents to consider," said researchers John Christiansen and Irene Leigh of Gallaudet University, a college for the deaf in Washington.

 

[Crazymanw00t]

Whoa thats a too strong comment. Cochlear Implants are not comparable to Stalin.

I am former of Cochlear Implant and I still have it inside me. It really invaded my body really. I was Cochlear Implanted when I was 4 years old and my parent made a decision. I am very upset with it, but I have to move it.

I know it is too strong comment but it's a fact.

 

[Liebling:-)))]

:sigh:

yes its a great benefit for them BUT i hope this isn't gonna keep them from their own culture, lauguage and people.

one other thing, i feel very unsafe about implanting babies or very young kids. is it REALLY safe to do that? drilling and putting on the chip while the skull isnt 100% developed, yet? isnt it gonna damage the implant/part of ear as their skull grows?

in my opinion, i would let my kid growing up in speech/hearing therapy and when he/she is old enough to understand about implantation, let him/her decide wether they'd like to get implant.

PS: im still interested in CI but damn operation still scares me

on tiny head... Oh no...

I rather to wear my baby with hearing aid until they're old enough to have their choice either they want to have CI or not because it's their body, they wear rest of their live. I would say from 7 years old.

 

[Gemtun]

I am former of Cochlear Implant and I still have it inside me. It really invaded my body really. I was Cochlear Implanted when I was 4 years old and my parent made a decision. I am very upset with it, but I have to move it.

I know it is too strong comment but it's a fact.

I understand but comparing it to Stalin? Stalin is ranked up among top three monsters this Earth ever saw.

Your parents got information from doctors ..your parents were trying to do their best. THey didn't know. Also, cochlear implants have vastly improved since then so I am sure that the early recipents of CIs are more traumatized than people getting implanted nowadays.

 

[Crazymanw00t]

I understand but comparing it to Stalin? Stalin is ranked up among top three monsters this Earth ever saw.

Your parents got information from doctors ..your parents were trying to do their best. THey didn't know. Also, cochlear implants have vastly improved since then so I am sure that the early recipents of CIs are more traumatized than people getting implanted nowadays.

The main point is that my body don't belongs to my parents or to the doctors. My parents knew about cochlear implants and they just need a commucation though speech and hearing, but too bad. I am deaf and my parent need to learn the asl.

Anyway!

Cochlear Implant is best for people who were born as hearing and in later of their life and they became deaf. Cochlear Implant is a best choice for them. That's my advice.

If you were deaf at whole of your lifetime, Cochlear Implant is a holocust. It only product the sounds but mostly of time you won't able to understand the people's speaking. I believe Cohclear Implant do destroys the deaf culture in many different ways.

For your information, whole that I posted about Cohclear Implant were based on my experince and my opinion. You may take it or not.

 

[Gemtun]

I do respect and understand your opinions/feelings on this issue. Im just expressing my own opinions too.

Im not here to slam or anything but to provide facts/experiences from my own side. I was implanted with a CI and do not consider it as a holocaust. Holocaust is an event where millions of innocent folks were killed. I am still alive and not dead.

We can agree to disagree.

 

[Cheri]

Hi Meg,

I wanted to Ask you a question if you don't mind... When did you get ur Implant? How does it Feel and what can u hear so far?

Do you like it?

 

[Gemtun]

Hi Cheri!

I got the implant on March 30 this year and just got it turned on today.

Suddenly I can understand TV without captions! Today was a remarkable day for me..I hear everything now..it is so weird!!!

I was against a CI for many years until this year. I realize that it is not a cure ..its just a tool to help me.

My brother, his wife and daughter got theirs 3 years ago and love it but I was mad at them. I thought they betrayed me but now I realize that they are still deaf and can hear more that is all.

I am still Deaf ..still will use ASL of course. I just wanted to improve my communication with my hearing daughters. I was frustrated at not understanding every word they say or what their teachers/classmates say to me. So that is the only reason I got a CI to help improve my bond with my hearing daughters.

 

[Crazymanw00t]

Meg, I am very happy that you are satisfed with your CI.

Not many people were happy with CI.

 

[Gemtun]

Thanks but I know it is not the answer for everyone. Just like oralism is not for everyone.

I took five years to learn ASL ..I still make mistakes and don't consider myself that fluent in ASL but I try anyway.

Some people are better than ASL than others like me for example. We all have to try out whatever works the best for each one of us. Like I said, each one of us is unique and have to try it all before we can find what works for us.

What I cant tolerate is folks judging me. They judge me for making mistakes in ASL and now I see folks judging me for getting a CI. I never judged anyone for being brilliant in ASL and lousy in oralism. I only look beyond communication issues and respect that SOUL in each person.

Enough with slamming ..we all can learn from each others differences :0

 

[WBHarley]

Thanks but I know it is not the answer for everyone. Just like oralism is not for everyone.

I took five years to learn ASL ..I still make mistakes and don't consider myself that fluent in ASL but I try anyway.

Some people are better than ASL than others like me for example. We all have to try out whatever works the best for each one of us. Like I said, each one of us is unique and have to try it all before we can find what works for us.

What I cant tolerate is folks judging me. They judge me for making mistakes in ASL and now I see folks judging me for getting a CI. I never judged anyone for being brilliant in ASL and lousy in oralism. I only look beyond communication issues and respect that SOUL in each person.

Enough with slamming ..we all can learn from each others differences :0

Agreed.. I feel the same for many years. I don't judge anybody for who they are, If I respect them, then they should respect me too. I have know many of my friends who does the same.. and Hope the world would come up with 2 way street with a better understanding...

Every person is differents with their options of languages not one language only you know meg ?


Wendy