Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, 22110, Jordan.
Faculty of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
BMC Pediatr. 2021 Feb 10;21(1):71. doi: 10.1186/s12887-021-02534-1.
Cognitive abilities like language, memory, reasoning, visualization, and perceptual functioning shape human action and are considered critical to the successful interaction with the environment. Alternatively, hearing loss can disrupt a child's ability to communicate, and negatively impact cognitive development. Cochlear implants (CI) restore auditory input thereby supporting communication and may enhance cognitive performance. This study compares general cognitive development after cochlear implantation (2017-2019) in two groups of Jordanian children implanted earlier (age:4-6 years, N = 22) and later (7-9 years, N = 16) to the development of randomly selected normal hearing peers (N = 48).
Visualization, reasoning, memory, and attention were assessed using the Leiter-R scale at baseline (before implantation), 8 months and 16 months post implantation for children with hearing loss. Same times of testing (baseline, 8 months and 16 months) were used for normal hearing peers.
Over the 16-month period, the cognitive improvement of 4-6-year-old deaf children was greater than that of their normal hearing peers on the scales of visualization (5.62 vs. 4.40), reasoning (2.53 vs. 2.38) and memory (17.19 vs. 11.67). while the improvement of 7-9-year-old was less major than that of their normal hearing peers on all scales.
These results suggest that CI not only enhances communication skills but may improve cognitive functioning in deaf children. However, the extent of this improvement was dependent on age at intervention; current results demonstrated that the children received CI at young ages had better cognitive improvements.
语言、记忆、推理、可视化和感知等认知能力塑造了人类的行为，被认为是与环境成功互动的关键。相反，听力损失会干扰儿童的沟通能力，并对认知发展产生负面影响。人工耳蜗（CI）恢复听觉输入，从而支持沟通，并可能提高认知表现。本研究比较了两组在约旦植入人工耳蜗（2017-2019 年）的儿童的一般认知发展，一组为植入年龄较早（4-6 岁，N=22），另一组为植入年龄较晚（7-9 岁，N=16），与随机选择的正常听力同龄人（N=48）的发展情况进行比较。
使用 Leiter-R 量表在基线（植入前）、植入后 8 个月和 16 个月对听力损失儿童进行视觉、推理、记忆和注意力评估。正常听力同龄人在相同的时间进行测试（基线、8 个月和 16 个月）。
在 16 个月的时间里，4-6 岁失聪儿童在可视化（5.62 对 4.40）、推理（2.53 对 2.38）和记忆（17.19 对 11.67）方面的认知提升幅度大于正常听力同龄人。而 7-9 岁失聪儿童的提升幅度则小于正常听力同龄人。
这些结果表明，CI 不仅增强了沟通技巧，而且可能改善失聪儿童的认知功能。然而，这种改善的程度取决于干预的年龄；目前的结果表明，在年幼时接受 CI 的儿童认知提升幅度更大。
