Multichannel cochlear implantation in children with cochlear ossification

Objective: To compare results of post-meningitic children who had cochlear implantation with partial or complete drill-out to those who had no drill-out. Study Design: This study is a retrospective case review. Setting: The Atlanta Cochlear Implant Group is a private, tertiary, outpatient clinic. Patients: Eligibility included all our post-meningitic patients, 2-17 years, having a cochlear implant between June 1990 and July 1997. Interventions: All subjects had a Nucleus 22 cochlear implant surgically implanted, speech processor programming and follow-up testing in our center, and aural rehabilitation in a variety of therapy settings. Main Outcome Measure: Open and closed set speech discrimination tests. Results: Test performance for speech understanding was highest in the non-ossified group and lowest, but above chance, in the ossified group with complete drill-out. Conclusions: While children with non-ossified cochleas performed best, even children with extensive ossification requiring complete drill-out benefited from cochlear implantation.