Candidacy Guidelines for Cochlear Implants

Question

What criteria is used in determining if a child is not benefiting from a traditional hearing aid and is a candidate for a cochlear implant? Are there certain measures that are administered to make this determination? How long do I try a conventional aid

Answer

Candidacy guidelines used to determine if a child is not benefiting from traditional hearing aids and may be a candidate for a cochlear implant are as follows:

• The child must be at least 12 months of age


• Demonstrate a profound, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (>90 dBHL)


• Receive limited or no benefit from appropriately fit hearing aids:

1. In younger children (
   
2. In older children (>4 years of age), lack of hearing-aid benefit is defined as scoring

• The family must be motivated and have realistic expectations


• No medical contraindications

Additionally there are some real world experiences that might suggest the need for the child to have a cochlear implant evaluation:

• Delayed or lack of speech and language development


• Rarely responds to name with hearing aids on


• Lack of social interaction with children and adults


• Emphasis on auditory development in the child's educational, home and therapy environments

When assessing children it is important to consider the following:

• Child's developmental age


• Is the child wearing his/her hearing aids consistently?


• Are the hearing aids appropriate for the child's degree of hearing loss?

After addressing the above questions the types of assessment measures to use should be fairly apparent but it would be important to use a combination of speech perception measures, speech and language tests and subjective questionnaires. Most Cochlear Implant Centers will use a variety of speech and language and speech perception measures to determine candidacy. Additionally it is recommended that the child wear conventional hearing aids for a period of 3-6 months consistently in order to determine if a cochlear implant may be warranted.

To learn more about the benefits of cochlear implants, families and professionals are encouraged to contact AB's Bionic Ear Association (BEA) by calling 866.844.HEAR (4327), emailing:hear@advancedbionics.com or visiting our website at www.BionicEar.com.

This Ask the Expert was taken from the course entitled: Bionic Ears for Kids: AB Technology and Resources for Children presented by Carissa Moeggenberg, M.A., CCC-A.

Visit the SpeechPathology.com eLearning Library to view all of our live, recorded, and text-based courses on a variety of topics.

Carissa Moeggenberg completed both a Bachelor's of Science (1991) and a Master's of Audiology (1992) from Central Michigan University. Upon completing these degrees she joined the University of Michigan's Cochlear Implant team where she served as a pediatric audiologist for over 10 years. Following her passion for cochlear implants and rehabilitation of children and adults with a severe to profound hearing loss she joined Advanced Bionics in 2002. Presently she is the Manager of Rehab Programs and in that role develops the aural rehabilitative education programs and resources provided by Advanced Bionics. She is also working on her Doctorate of Audiology degree through Central Michigan University's Distance Learning Program. Carissa has co-authored several publications on cochlear implantation and has presented nationally on cochlear implantation and aural rehabilitation.