(CDaCI) study: Design and baseline characteristics

ABSTRACT Children with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss face commu-nication challenges that infl uence language, psychosocial and scholastic performance. Clinical studies over the past 20 years have supported wider application of cochlear implants in children. The Childhood Development after Cochlear Implantation (CDaCI) study is the fi rst longitudinal multicentre, national cohort study to evaluate systematically early cochlear implant (CI) outcomes in children. The objective of the study was to compare children who have undergone cochlear implantation, with similarly aged hearing peers across multiple domains, including oral language development, auditory perform-ance, psychosocial and behavioural functioning, and quality of life. The CDaCI study is a multicentre national cohort study of CI children and normal hearing (NH) peers. Eli-gibility criteria include informed consent, age less than 5 years, pre- or post-lingually deaf, developmental criteria met, commitment to educate the child in English and bilateral cochlear implants. All children had a standardised baseline assessment that include