P1 as an objective auditory rehabilitation assessing indicator for cochlear implant children

Cochlear implants (CIs) provide a tool for hearing reconstruction. How to effectively and reasonably evaluate the auditory rehabilitation level of CI children has always been a difficult problem, especially for those with prelingual deafness. Many studies have used electroencephalograph (EEG) technology for CI users, which have shown that EEG is suitable for clinical postoperative evaluation. This study aims to explore changes of latencies and amplitudes of P1 wave in CI children under auditory stimulation. A pure tone at 1000 Hz was used as the stimuli to induce cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEP). The characteristics of P1 wave were compared between normal hearing children and CI children over different implantation period. Results show that CI children started to have improved auditory perception after implantation, moreover, their P1 wave amplitude becomes similar to that of normal hearing children after six months. One year after implantation, the characteristics of P1 wave of CI children become similar to those of normal hearing children. Therefore, it seems that P1 could be used as an objective auditory rehabilitation assessing indicator for CI children.