Relationship Between Auditory Cortical Responses and Language Development Levels in Pediatric Cochlear Implant Recipients in a Noisy Environment and a Quiet Environment

Background: Congenital hearing loss (hearing loss present at birth) is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions in children. Children with hearing loss have deficiencies in their speech and language development in the future, depending on the degree of hearing loss. Cochlear implantation is a very common treatment modality for congenital hearing loss. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between auditory cortical responses and language development levels of cochlear implant users in noisy and quiet environments.

Methods: Thirty patients who underwent cochlear implantation were included in the study. The patients’ responses to auditory cortical stimuli first included the /m/, /t/, /g/ phonemes, their language and speech development levels (Test of Early Language Development-3), first in a quiet environment, and then in a noisy environment, with a suitable speaker system at a distance of 1 m. evaluated and the data were statistically analyzed.

Results: It was observed that the wave morphologies of the phonemes m/,/t/, and /g/ deteriorated, their amplitude values decreased, and their latencies were prolonged in the noisy environment (S/N = +10dB) compared to the auditory cortical responses in the quiet environment (P <.01). A significant difference was observed between the receptive-expressive language equivalent values to the patients’ peers in the quiet and noisy environments (P < .01).

Conclusion: The language performance of the cochlear implant patients in the noisy environment was considerably lower than their language performance in the quiet environment. Patients with cochlear implants; it is recommended to organize their education and social life together with the family, taking into account their performance in quiet/noisy environments.

Cite this article as: Şimşek A, Aslan M, Polat Z. Relationship between auditory cortical responses and language development levels in pediatric cochlear implant recipients in a noisy environment and a quiet environment. B-ENT. 2025;21(2):97-105.