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A 1-YEAR FOLLOW UP STUDY OF COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS IN DEAF CHILDREN AFTER COCHLEAR IMPLANT
Seung Ha Oh1, Min-Sup Shin2, Myung-Whan Suh1, Hyung-Mi Kim1, Young Ho Kim1, Jun-Ho Lee1, Sun O Chang1, Chong Sun Kim1
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea/2Department of Pediatric Psychology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
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OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to examine improvements in cognitive abilities after cochlear implant in congenital deaf children.■
METHODS: Twenty deaf children (mean age: 6 years 4 months) participated in this study. They were administered a neuropsychological test battery before cochlear implant and reassessed by the same test at 6-months and 1-year follow up. The neuropsychological test battery was composed of nonverbal tests to assess cognitive functions, including general intelligence, working memory, attention, and motor coordination. It included Korean Pictorial Test of Intelligence, Leiter International Performance Scale- Revised, Korean version of computerized visual attention test, Grooved Pegboard Test, and Rey Complex Figure Test.■ RESULTS: The deaf children showed marked improvement in visual organization ability after cochlear implant. Their cognitive functions measured by non-verbal tests such as form discrimination and visual short-term memory were found to have significantly improved. However, their performances on Information, Comprehension, Similarity, and Mathematics subtests which require verbal comprehension abilities were not significantly changed. Deaf children’s working memory improved significantly after cochlear implant. Interestingly, although they showed higher omission errors in visual attention test at 6-months follow up than before cochlear implant, while their attentional ability improved up to near normal range at 1-year follow up.
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CONCLUSION: At 1-year follow up after cochlear implant, deaf children showed marked improvement in nonverbal cognitive functions, working memory, and visual attention. However, their verbal abilities did not significantly change. It is thereby suggested that cognitive rehabilitation for language acquisition after cochlear implant need the long-time beyond 1 year.