Objective
To make longitudinal comparison of Children with Cochlear Implant, Children with hearing aids and the hearing control group.
To estimate the impact of hearing on the development of short -term memory and sequential indices of IQ and simultaneous scale or visual memory.
Methods
The longitudinal study evaluated verbal and nonverbal IQ with the Kaufmann Assessment Battery before school enrolment to find out if early Cochlear Implant surgery influences the verbal IQ. The study included all children of the CI programm and paediatric department at the University Clinic of Cologne. The Kaufman Assessment Battery based on the theoretical dual model for test score interpretation featuring the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model of cognitive abilities and Luria’s neuropsychological theory of cognitive processing. The test also evaluates sores for short-term memory and long-term memory.
The IQ scores of children with CI (CI=65/m=39/f=26), children with hearing aids (HA=33/ m=16/ f=17)) and normal hearing children (NH=30/ m=9/ f=21) are compared. Testing took place at the age of 70; 5 months (60-106; SD 9).
Statistical analysis uses descriptive and nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test for comparing the median with SPSS 29. Significant value of difference is p=0,05.
Results
The statistical analysis in comparing the median of the sequential scale indicates a significant difference between children with CI and NH (p=0, 01) and no significant difference between CI and HA users. There was as well no significance between HA users and NH. Whereas there is no difference for the simultaneous scale between the CI and HA, CI and NH or HA and NH.
Conclusion
Children with CI have achieved an equal IQ in the simultaneous scale in comparison to hearing aid users and normal hearing children. Yet the short term memory differs to the other groups.

Cognitive Status Quo of Children with Cochlear Implants at Kindergarten Age in Comparison to Children assessed with Hearing Aids and Children with Normal Hearing.

It is with great pleasure and enthusiasm, that on behalf of the Cochlear Implant centers of the Radboud UMC in Nijmegen and Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam to invite you to attend the 16th European Symposium on Pediatric Cochlear Implantation to Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 2023.

Yours sincerely, on behalf of the CI Centers at Radboud UMC and Erasmus MC,