Predicting Outcomes in Children who use Cochlear Implants

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We found that after an average of only 6 months of experience with their cochlear implants, there were substantial individual differences in children's speech and language skills - importantly, these differences persisted to predict outcomes more than a decade later. This finding may seem deterministic, suggesting a "Matthew effect" in which children who do well with their implant very soon after it is received continue to do well, and children who benefit less initially from implantation continue to receive limited benefit. However, long-term language and neurocognitive outcomes in our study were also predicted by improvement within the first two years of implant use. Taken together, these findings are consistent with the idea that early identification of risk for a poor outcome, when that leads to early intervention, could have a significant impact on the long-term benefit from a cochlear implant.

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