Paediatric cochlear implantation

The first paediatric CI was done at the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles in 1980. Initial concerns about device infection from otitis media and electrode problems caused by head growth were soon proven to be essentially irrelevant. In 1988 the first cochlear implantation was done in South Africa at the University of Stellenbosch-Tygerberg Hospital Cochlear Implant Unit. Since then 260 children have received CIs in South Africa. Children who undergo implantation early in life, followed by a period of appropriate rehabilitation, can achieve speech and language skills exceeding those seen in profoundly deaf children with hearing aids. However, there is considerable variability in performance between individual children. Both congenitally and postlingually deaf children can develop hearing and oral language using CIs.