Cochlear implantation (CI) for treatment of single-sided deafness (SSD) received the CE mark of approval in 2013 and was later approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2019; it is rapidly becoming an accepted medical intervention to promote binaural hearing functions in children, with the added hope of reducing the developmental risks of UHL. Audiologists have found themselves needing to quickly adjust their CI assessment and management protocols, originally devised for individuals with bilateral deafness, to meet the unique needs of children with unilateral deafness. The current talk will review the current state of knowledge regarding developmental risks and auditory consequences of pediatric unilateral hearing loss, describe clinical practice guidelines used to assess audiological outcomes in the pediatric SSD + CI listener, and examine outcome data collected on Boston Children’s Hospital’s growing patient population of SSD listeners. Lessons learned from the past decade and lingering questions about the best ways to serve this unique patient population will be shared from the perspective of a pediatric clinical-research audiologist.

Learning objectives:

1. Understand the referral criteria for a cochlear implant evaluation for the pediatric SSD listener.
2. Identify specific audiological assessment tools, beyond the audiogram, that can be used to evaluate hearing functions in a child with unilateral hearing loss.
3. Describe potential benefits from CI for SSD.
4. Appreciate the persistent challenges of audiological management in the pediatric SSD listener.