Long-Term Evaluation of Prelingually Deaf Subjects Implanted During Adolescence and Adulthood

Cochlear Implantation (CI) can be considered the elective choice for the treatment of severe and profound hearing loss. Its benefits are already well documented in children and in postlingually deafened adults (Bond et al., 2009; Manrique et al., 1998), whilst there is still some controversy concerning prelingually deafened adolescents and adults. Initial studies on the last two populations showed only limited improvement post-implant for closed-set speech perception tasks and for the recognition of envi-ronmental sounds, with no open-set recognition in most patients. Furthermore, the authors concluded that only a few patients with long-term prelingual deafness could be considered good candidates for CI. This can be attributed to the fact that, if implanted during this phase, prelingually deafened adolescents and adults have passed the ‘sensitive period’ for language development and the ability of the central nervous system to reorganize itself is more limited. Moreover, adolescents and adults with prelingual deafness represent a very heterogeneous group of patients, owing to age at implantation, duration of auditory deprivation, residual hearing, level of language skills, communication modes, and educational experience, all of which can affect post-implant outcomes and this makes it more difficult to decide which option to take. Finally, in adolescents further difficulties are linked to the critical period that they have to face in terms of physical, mental, emotional, and social developments and changes. During the last years, authors have widened prospects in this field via the evalua-tion of further important parameters such as quality of life, personal satisfaction, well-being, schooling, and employment. Thus, despite the limited improvement in speech perception, they were able to show positive effects resulting from cochlear implantation on the quality of life (Zwolan et al., 1996; Klop et al., 2007). However, there are still only a few papers to be found in literature on this topic. Published by Maney Publishing (c) W. S. Maney & Son Limited