Early Cochlear Implantation Shows Variable but Clinically Relevant Benefits in Children with Single-Sided Deafness: A Western Australian 10‑Year Series

Highlights

– In a 10‑year retrospective series (n=22), pediatric cochlear implantation for single‑sided deafness (SSD) produced variable long‑term outcomes; early implantation (≤1 year from onset) was associated with better speech‑in‑noise and localization benefit in most responders.

– Objective group-level improvement in BKB Sentence-in-Noise scores and localization was not demonstrated overall, likely reflecting heterogeneity in age at implantation, onset type, limited testing completion, and low average device use (~4 hours/day).