ABSTRACT
@#BACKGROUND. Over 5% of the world’s population or 466 million people have disabling hearing loss (432 million adults and 34 million children). Profound sensorineural hearing loss and deafness can be treated successfully with a cochlear implant. A cochlear implant (CI) stimulates the auditory nerve, bypassing the defective cochlea, and provides auditory information to the developing brain, thus improving oral language. Children, who receive an early diagnosis of deafness and proper speech rehabilitation, and undergo early cochlear implantation, are able to develop auditory and linguistic skills at par with their hearing peers. METHOD. 6 deaf patients who underwent unilateral Cochlear Implantation at the NCMCH from January 2017 to June 2018 were included in the study. Participants were divided into 3 groups on the basis of age at which participants underwent implantation. RESULTS. Pre-op average MAIS was 1,6/40, Category of Auditory Performance (CAP) - 0,77 and SIR - 0,7/5 in all implanted age groups. Score increased over time to attain average score MAIS -29.6/40, CAP- 3.3/7 SIR-2.7/5 in all implanted groups at one year after implantation. CONCLUSION. There is a need for more research on patient age and gender composition, and outcomes of cochlear implantation and hearing devices in this study population. A robust set of study measures would provide statistical significance. Parent-child relationships affect hearing and speech therapy results, so there’s a need to improve parents’ knowledge regarding these therapies.