Effect of sound processing on performance of young children with cochlear implants

The purpose of this study was to compare retrospectively the post-implant performance of matched groups of children who used either used HiResolution™ (HiRes™) sound processing or previous-generation sound-coding schemes. Performance was examined on the Infant–Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS) after 3 and 6 months of device use. Children in each group (n=21) were implanted between 12 and 18 months of age and matched on age at implant, communication mode, and pre-implant IT-MAIS score. Results revealed significantly higher post-implant scores at both the 3- and 6-month follow-up visits for the children using HiResolution sound compared to their peers using older sound-coding strategies. The findings indicate that young children can benefit from advances in cochlear implant technology.