Multichannel cochlear implantation in postmeningitic and congenitally deaf children

Objective: To test the view that prelinguistic postmeningitic deaf (PMD) children outperform congenitally deaf children (CD) in the first year following cochlear implanation. Study Design and Patients: We evaluated 85 children with ages (at implantation) ranging from 1.9 years to 13.5 years (mean age 5.4 years). The Listening Progress scale was used to assess the developing use of audition 3, 6, and 12 months after implantation. Results: In contrast to previous reports, the PMD children achieved statistically significantly lower scores than CD children.