Auditory system reorganization following cochlear implant in children with pre-lingual deafness

Objective: To evaluate the auditory system reorganization following Cochlear Implant (CI) in prelingually deaf children using Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials (CAEPs). Methods: This is an open label prospective longitudinal study conducted on prelingually deaf Persian children (n=20) who underwent CI in a CI center in Khuzestan, Iran during 2015 to 2016. The subjects (10 boys, 10 girls; mean age: 2.48 ± 1.05 y) with profound pre-lingual hearing loss participated in this study. The CAEPs in response to speech stimuli (/m/, /g/, and /t/) were recorded using a HEARLab system. In all subjects the P1 latency of CAEPs was comparatively measured at three intervals: The baseline before CI and at two follow up points at 3and 6-month post CI. Results: The mean P1 values decreased with increasing time of implant use during the follow-up periods. The averaged P1 latency showed no significant difference between the different speech stimuli in all assessment intervals. Conclusion: Our findings showed that CI influences the auditory system which can be measured in