PARTIAL DEAFNESS TREATMENT IN CHILDREN: A PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE PARENTS’ PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Background Cochlear implant (CI) eligibility criteria have broadened recently to include individuals with partial deafness (PD). In 2002, the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Poland, pioneered a particular technique of cochlear implantation termed partial deafness treatment (PDT) and achieved unrivalled rates of functional hearing preservation. Encouraged by the results in adults, a pediatric PDT program was initiated in 2004. The outcome of PDT for both adults and children has been well documented and assessed with objective measures of sound detection and speech discrimination. The current study explores outcomes in real life rather than in a clinical setting. We hypothesized that if PDT provides children with renewed listening ability it is likely to have a major impact on family life and that this impact should be able to be documented by parental reports. Material and Method Seven parents of PDT cochlear-implanted children were surveyed using 20 open-ended prompts. The questionnaires were sent to patients’ homes. The parents were asked to answer the prompts in their own words. Results All parents reported that after their child received cochlear implant there was a significant improvement in speech understanding and better perception of high pitched sounds. More than half the parents also noticed positive changes in speech production. The changes in communication abilities after CI positively influenced the child’s relationships with family members and school mates. Conclusions The results of this study support expanding the criteria for receiving a cochlear implant to include children with partial deafness.