Effect of auditory therapy for a cochlear implant child who underwent the operation at school age

Abstract

A school-age subject with a cochlear implant showed difficulty in improvement of her listening skills. She had undergone the cochlear implant surgery at the age of 7 years 5 months. It was difficult to carry out regular auditory therapy after the implantation because of the treatment for atlanto-axial rotatory subluxation. Also, it was difficult to prepare an appropriate map due to facial stimulation, tongue numbness, and ear pain. Auditory therapy was carried out for 3 months about one year after switch-on. While a slight improvement in the listening skills was noted initially after the therapy, due to the difficulty of mapping, her listening skills again deteriorated gradually. Auditory therapy was restarted at the mother's request when the child was 11 years 5 months old. This time around, auditory checkups, including mapping, participation of the mother and discussions with the subject were included in the therapy. After 7 months of auditory therapy, the child's listening skills improved and satisfactory results of the cochlear implantation were obtained. This shows that a comprehensive approach, including auditory checkups, parental guidance and discussions with the subject himself/herself is necessary for auditory therapy of children undergoing cochlear implant surgery at school age.