Postural Stability of Adolescents with Late Cochlear Implantation and Hearing Aids: A Non-Randomized Trial

TL;DR

This study compares postural stability in adolescents with late cochlear implants and hearing aids, finding differences in balance control.

Contribution

The study reveals how late unilateral cochlear implantation affects neuromuscular control differently than hearing aids during balance tasks.

Findings

Adolescents with cochlear implants showed greater vCOP values compared to those with hearing aids during eyes open conditions.

The area of postural sway was consistently larger in the cochlear implant group, regardless of visual input.

Age was found to predict vCOP values in late cochlear implant users.

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the neuromuscular control of adolescents with late unilateral cochlear implantation and compare them to adolescents with hearing aids (HAs) while performing a balance task on a platform with the conditions of an activated hearing device (cochlear implant (CI)/HAs) with eyes opened/closed (EO/EC). Methods: Forty-eight adolescents with hearing loss participated in the study and were divided into SG (unilateral CI and HA) and CG (bilateral HA). The evaluation of the postural stability was performed with a force plate during two repeating testing trials with EO/EC. Results: SG was characterized by greater values of vCOP compared to CG (EO), while, in CG, greater values of vCOP were noted in the second trial. The type of hearing device was found to be related to the values of area (EO) (p < 0.001), which were always greater in SG, regardless of the visual perception. Conclusions: Late unilateral CI may impact the activation of different models of the auditory compensatory mechanism than HA, which is related to neuromuscular control. The values of vCOP can be predicted by age in late-CI individuals. Visual perception seems not to be related to the values of the area, which can be impacted both by CI and HA.

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