Outcome of cochlear implantation among prelingual children with difference age at implantation

Introduction: The aims of this study are to compare the outcomes of cochlear implantation (CI) among pre- lingual children at different age of implantation and to determine associated factors that affecting outcome. Methods: A total of 24 prelingual (CI) recipients from University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) with age at implantation ranged from 24 to 172 months (mean: 66.9 1 SD: 32.68) participated. Patients were then assigned according to their age of implantation; “early implanted (4 years and less, N=7)â€and “late implanted (more than 4 years old, N= 17â€). The Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS) and the Meaningful Use of Speech Scale (MUSS) questionnaire were used to assess parent’s perception before and after the implantation. The difference between pre- and post in percentage named as Normalised MAIS and Normalised MUSS were then calculated in addition to the average aided test in dBHL and monosyllabic, dwisyllabic and polysyllabic (MDP3, 6 and 12) test results. Results: No significant difference were found between early and late implantees group for average aided score, Normalise MAIS, Normalise MUSS and MDP3/6/12(P>0.05). A significant negative correlation were found between the average aided CI score and the MDP 12 score with the duration of implantation with a strong relationship ( r= -0.584 to -0.689, p