Auditory performance and language skills in children with auditory brainstem implants and cochlear implants.

PURPOSE: This study aims to evaluate school-age language skills and auditory performance in different listening situations in children with cochlear implants and auditory brainstem implants. METHOD: The study included 60 children between the ages of 5 and 9 years with cochlear implants (CI) and auditory brainstem implants (ABI). The volunteer children were divided into two groups: bimodal CI-ABI and bilateral CI users. Test of Language Development: Primary (TOLD-P:4), which assesses components of language such as phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics, was used to evaluate school-age language skills. Children's Auditory Performance Scale (CHAPS) was used to measure their listening performance in quiet, noisy, multi-stimulus environments and their auditory attention and memory skills in daily life. The correlations between language and auditory performance were analyzed and compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Children with ABI showed poorer performance in school-age language skills and auditory performance in different listening environments (p < 0.05). Significant correlations were between school-age language skills and auditory performance (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Improved auditory performance is crucial for the development of school-age language skills. To improve auditory performance in children with ABI in different listening environments, assistive listening devices, acoustic environmental arrangements, informative activities, etc., should be used.

Cochlear Function in Adults Exposed to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2.

INTRODUCTION: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a viral infection with a wide variety of symptoms, including fever, coughing, sneezing, fatigue, and a loss of taste and smell. Moreover, there are some recent studies that investigate the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on hearing and auditory performance. With this current study, we investigate the early effects of the coronavirus disease on hair cells in the cochlea. METHODS: In the current study, there were 25 subjects (17 females, 8 males) who tested positive for polymerase chain reaction on nasopharyngeal swabs. They had reported normal auditory functions and no history of otology before SARS-CoV-2. To determine auditory functions, pure-tone audiometry, otoacoustic emissions (OAE) tests, and threshold equalizing noise (TEN) tests were used. RESULTS: Although the hearing thresholds increased at higher frequencies, they were within normal limits according to four-frequency pure-tone averages. All participants had normal OAE, and there were no detected dead regions for any of the subjects. Even so, there were significant increases in hearing thresholds in TEN. CONCLUSION: There is no cochlear dysfunction discovered by OAE and TEN in SARS-CoV-2-affected individuals. Nonetheless, the increase in hearing thresholds at higher frequencies, other than the pure-tone average frequencies detected by TEN, and the decrease in the presence of detected OAE could be related to deterioration in the basal part of the cochlea.