Since the advent of the cochlear implant more than 20 years ago, the devices have benefited thousands of patients. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as of April 2009, approximately 188,000 people worldwide have received cochlear implants. In the U.S., about 42,000 adults and 26,000 children have received them. Today, the fantasy of two implanted artificial cochlea is a reality.
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June 2010At some institutions, it is standard operating procedure to place two implants. In a 2008 article in Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery, for example, Blake Papsin, MD, and colleagues published an article titled “Bilateral cochlear implants should be the standard for children with bilateral sensorineural deafness.” The authors wrote, “We recommend that simultaneous bilateral implantation be provided when possible and, if not, the inter-stage interval should be limited” (2008;16:69-74). Dr. Papsin is director of the Cochlear Implant Program at The Hospital for Sick Children and professor of otolaryngology at the University of Toronto.
Simultaneous or Sequential?
Bilateral cochlear implantation has been found to offer significant benefits to children with severe-to-profound hearing impairment. Where a single implant can enable a child to hear, two implanted simultaneously in a young child can give the child the gifts of song and music, and can significantly improve his or her ability to interact socially and to hear incidental sounds such as those in the back seat of a car, on the street, or on the playground. In a recent article in The Laryngoscope (2009;119:2444–2448), Dr. Papsin and coauthors demonstrated that simultaneous bilateral implantation in children was safe and effective in a series of 50 cases.