A case-control study comparing auditory and speech outcomes after cochlear implantation in children with and without seizure history

The outcomes of pediatric cochlear implantation (CI) in children with epilepsy have not been thoroughly characterized. AIMS/OBJECTIVES: To compare auditory and speech outcomes in pediatric CI recipients with and without epilepsy, and to evaluate whether the presence of epilepsy should contraindicate CI.

Continue reading at PubMed →

Children with a seizure history may have different cochlear implant outcomes than those without; clinicians should be aware of this as a prognostic factor when counseling families, but practice protocols should not change until findings are replicated in larger studies.

Seizure history is not routinely flagged as a prognostic variable for pediatric cochlear implant outcomes, and this study raises the question of whether pre-implant workup or post-implant rehabilitation protocols should be tailored for this subgroup.

1. 01Case-control design compared cochlear implant auditory and speech outcomes in children with vs. without seizure history.
2. 02Published in Acta Otolaryngologica (2026), a peer-reviewed ENT/audiology journal.
3. 03Seizure history may be an underappreciated variable affecting pediatric cochlear implant success.
4. 04Case-control methodology limits causal inference and generalizability.
5. 05Findings are relevant to pre-implant counseling and candidate selection discussions.

PMID

42570216

DOI

10.1080/00016489.2026.2709325.

Journal

Acta Otolaryngologica

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

3

Population

Children with cochlear implants, stratified by presence or absence of a prior seizure history

Intervention

Cochlear implantation in children with a seizure history

Comparator

Children without a seizure history who received cochlear implants