Ezekiel and Elijah’s journey to cochlear implantation began shortly after birth. As mandated by state law, all newborns are required to have their hearing screened prior to discharge from the hospital. Ezekiel and Elijah did not pass their newborn hearing screen and were referred on for further diagnostic testing at Children’s Mercy Hospital. Subsequent testing revealed significant hearing loss in both ears and the possibility of cochlear implantation came into question. The twins were referred on to University of Kansas Hospital, ENT Department, for cochlear implant consultation. They immediately began a hearing aid trial, as all children do prior to determining candidacy. This process all took place prior to the twins turning age 1!
In the midst of their hearing aid trial, the boys were examined to determine the cause of their hearing loss. It was discovered that the cause of their hearing loss was Connexin 26 ( a congenital sensorineural hearing loss). Hearing aids were found to provide minimal benefit, and not enough to develop speech and language skills equal to their hearing peers. Cochlear implantation was the best option to achieve this outcome. After careful consideration, the family decided that they wanted to pursue cochlear implantation for the twins and the boys were bilaterally implanted as close to one year of age as possible.
Initial activation of the external processor happened in February 2011 and each child responded well to the new sound. They are babbling and producing sounds far beyond what they did when just fitted with their hearing aids. The boys are receiving intervention services through multiple sources to work on learning to listen with the implants and learning to develop speech and language. Due to their family home being located in Rural Kansas over two hours away from the Medical Center some of the services such as speech therapy are being provided via Skype and despite this challenging process for 1 years olds the twins are responding and engaged in their therapy.
Given the early age of identification of hearing loss, hearing aid trial, and obtaining cochlear implants close to the age of 1, the success with cochlear implants is high. With reprogramming of the external equipment frequently, enrollment in intervention services, and parental involvement, the twins will most likely catch up in terms of language and speech development to their normal hearing peers and be mainstreamed by the time they reach kindergarten.
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The University of Kansas Medical Center