A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Comparing the Effect of Unilateral versus Bilateral Cochlear Implant in Hearing Impairment

Abstract

Background: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate concerning language shifts, cognitive shifts, and SiN sensitivity in children with severe to profound auditive impairments by using unilateral or bilateral CI. Hearing and speech are incredibly important for language acquisition and neurocognitive development, and CI’s are designed to reverse the effects of hearing loss. Participants were divided into two groups: Comparisons have been made between the early and older CI users and normal hearing children and between unilateral and bilateral CI users. Methods: As per PRISMA and Cochrane guideline, an electronic search was done in PubMed, Web of Science and scopus. Out of 274 articles initially identified, we compared 8 cohort studies. Results: The meta-analysis revealed that bilateral CI provided superior speech perception compared to unilateral CI, with a mean difference of −0.41 (95% CI: The correlations for each group were as follows: healthy controls, r = −0.62, P < 0.0001; patients with PD, r = 0.21, P < 0.0001.Low-frequency BWSTC for patients with PD (n = 164) was also found to be significantly higher than that of healthy controls (n = 83) [mean difference, 0.62; 95%. Conclusions: These results provide support for the activation and use of bilateral cochlear implants and CI recipients’ auditory and communicative advancements. However, the outcomes for these children may be modified by individual medical and social factors. These observations call for further work employing psychometric instruments in order to sharpen them.