Correction: Cortical maturation in children with cochlear implants: Correlation between electrophysiological and behavioral measurement

Electrophysiological Characteristics in Pediatric Cochlear Implantation

AIMS

Cochlear implantation is a potential intervention for individuals with severe to profound hearing loss, in particular in the pediatric population. This literature review aims to comprehensively evaluate the applications of electrophysiological tests in enhancing cochlear implant (CI) outcomes for children.

METHODS

A literature review searched Medline and PubMed databases for articles on electrophysiological tests in CI children, using the terms "electrophysiological tests," "children," and "cochlear implant." The systematic search leads to 72 eligible texts.

RESULTS

Electrophysiological tests can be used to test CI children without the need for their active participation. These tests can be helpful in identifying and improving the health of deaf children in various ways, such as determining the CI functional status, the semantic integration effects in CI children, the effect of central auditory structures in speech stimulus processing, the development of lexical-semantic in CI children, and tracking the maturation of the central auditory system. CI enhances central auditory nervous system (CANS) maturation and auditory/language skills.

CONCLUSION

The quality of electrophysiological tests can be improved to enhance hearing outcome prediction, postoperative physiology understanding, and hearing loss mechanisms. Electrophysiological tests study CANS maturation, identify lesions, aid CI programming, determine prognosis, and treatment outcomes.

Auditory Cortex Maturation and Language Development in Children with Hearing Loss and Additional Disabilities

A significant portion of hearing-impaired children have additional disabilities, but data about the maturation of their auditory cortex are scarce. In these children, behavioral tests are often unreliable, and objective tests are needed for diagnostics and follow-up. This study aimed to explore auditory cortical maturation and language development, and the usability of an objective electroencephalogram-based biomarker in children with multiple disabilities. In 65 hearing aid and cochlear implant users (36 females; 36 with multiple disabilities; 44.3 ± 18.5 months of age, mean ± SD), auditory processing was examined using the P1 cortical auditory evoked response biomarker, and language development with the Preschool Language Scales 5th edition (PLS-5). During the study, all of the children received intensive extra language therapy for six months. No significant differences were found between the groups in P1 latency development, the proportion of abnormal P1 latencies, or the number of children whose P1 latencies changed from abnormal to normal during the study. The PLS-5 total language scores, auditory comprehension scores, or expressive communication scores did not differ between groups either. The P1 latencies showed meaningful negative correlations with the language scores. The results suggest that auditory cortex development is similar in hearing-impaired children with/without additional disabilities, and the P1 biomarker is a feasible tool to evaluate central auditory maturation in children with multiple disabilities.

Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials in 2-Year-Old Subjects

Introduction  Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) can be used to evaluate both peripheral and cortical components of auditory function, and contribute to the assessment of functional sensitivity and auditory thresholds, especially in neonates and infants. Auditory evoked potentials reflect auditory maturity and precede the acquisition of more complex auditory and cognitive skills, and are therefore crucial for speech and language development.

Objective  The aim of the present study was to determine the presence, latency and amplitude of CAEP components in response to verbal stimuli in children aged 2 years old.

Methods  The sample consisted of 19 subjects, 10 of whom were male while 9 were female. All of the participants were 24 months old at the time of assessment.

Results  A total of 17 of the participants displayed all components of the CAEP. Additionally, no significant differences were observed between genders or ears in the present sample. The presence of all components of the CAEP in subjects aged 2 years old confirms the existence of a critical period for the maturation of auditory pathways in the first 2 years of life.

Conclusion  In the present study, in addition to the P1/N1 components, it was possible to observe the presence of the CAEP P2/N2 components in individuals aged 24 months, confirming the existence of a critical period for the maturation of the auditory pathways in the first 2 years of life.

Cortical maturation of long latency auditory evoked potentials in hearing children: the complex P1-N1-P2-N2

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to monitor the emergence and changes to the components of the Long Latency Auditory Evoked Potentials (LLAEP) in normal hearing children.

Methods

This longitudinal study included children of both genders: seven aged between 10 and 35 months, and eight children between 37 and 63 months. The electrophysiological hearing evaluation consisted of analysis of LLAEP obtained in a sound field generated with loudspeakers positioned at an azimuth of 90°, through which the syllable /ba/ was played at an intensity of 70 dB HL. Each child underwent an initial evaluation followed by two re-evaluations three and nine months later.

Results

The emergence of LLAEP components across the nine-month follow-up period was observed. P1 and N2 were the most common components in children of this age range. There was no statistically significant difference regarding the occurrence of P1, N1, P2, and N2 components amongst younger and older children. Regarding latency values, the greatest changes overtime were observed in the P1 component for younger children and in the N2 component for older children. Only the P1 component significantly differed between the groups, with the highest latency values observed in younger children.

Conclusion

LLAEP maturation occurs gradually and the emergence of complex components appears to be related more to the maturation of the central auditory nervous system than to chronological age.