Cortical neuroplasticity in children after early cochlear implantation

Hearing is crucial to learn and use language. Loss of hearing in children affects the development of speech, language and cognitive abilities, and severely impairs social capabilities. Thus, efforts to restore auditory perception are determinative and research should be focused on factors likely to bring about the best prognosis. Numerous experimental observations demonstrate that there is a sensitive or critical period for cochlear implantation. Implantations performed in prelingually deaf children in this period are associated with better results in terms of speech recognition and language acquisition. This is the time period in which brain plasticity shows its highest level of developmen…