This retrospective study included 106 children given cochlear implants in our hospital from 1991 to 2007. For the initial 4 years, all children receiving cochlear implants were over the age of 6 years. In recent years, however, there has been a growing trend to lower the age of implantation below 3 years. Almost 80% of the cases suffered from unknown congenital hearing loss, and 10% of the cases indicated post-meningitis deafness. Speech recognition tests after implantation showed good results except for children with congenital deafness aged over 8 years at implantation, congenital rubella syndrome, and severe inner ear anomalies such as semicircular canal aplasia. Furthermore, the evaluation of post-operative speech cognition in multi-handicapped children using cochlear implants is considered to require more time for an accurate estimation. The rate of delayed complications including MRSA infection and cholesteatoma formation was 7% of all cases, and was considered to rise with an increase of the follow-up period.
