The Age of Hesitancy, Recognition, Reinforcement, and Interposition in Cochlear Implant Children in Ahvaz, Iran: A 5-year Study

Delay in early detecting of hearing loss (HL) and aural interposition in children have intense impacts on their speech and language expansion, academic progress, social skills, and psychological status.

The purpose of the current study was to assess the age of hesitancy, recognition, reinforcement, and interposition in children with bilateral severe to deep hearing loss.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on children who were candidates for cochlear implant surgery at Khuzestan Cochlear Implantation Center, Ahvaz, Iran. The rehabilitative histories and children’s medical were utilized to record ages of hesitancy, recognition, reinforcement, and interposition for both groups of “high-risk” and “not-high-risk” children. Paired sample t-test was used to evaluate the middle ages of children between the “high-risk” and “not-high risk” groups.

A total of 389 children (205 boys and 184 girls) were included. The mean ages of hearing loss hesitancy, hearing loss recognition, fitting the hearing reinforcement devices, and interposition were 10.7 ± 7.1, 15.75 ± 9.4, 21.81 ± 8.1, and 26.32 ± 9.2 months, respectively. The average delays between the ages of hesitancy and recognition: 3.74 (P < 0.0001); recognition and reinforcement: 5.05 (P < 0.0001); reinforcement and interposition: 2.83 months (P < 0.0001) were obtained. There were no significant statistical differences in terms of four studied ages among the high-risk (n = 129) and not-high risk (n = 260) children (P > 0.05).

The outcomes showed that there is a significant improvement in the average ages of hearing loss hesitancy, recognition, reinforcement, and interposition in Iran. However, there is still an obvious difference between these ages and those recommended by the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing.