Impact of socioeconomic factors on language development in children with cochlear implant operation

The study included 43 patients who underwent cochlear implant surgery at Dicle University Medical Faculty Hospital, Department of Otorhinolaryngology between 2013 and 2018, with a chronological age of between 4;0-7;11 months. Receptive and expressive language development of all participants included in the study was evaluated with Turkish Early Language Development (TEDIL). Afterwards, the socioeconomic demographic characteristics of the patients and their families included in the study, the time of diagnosis of hearing, instrumentation time, chronological age, surgical age, cochlear implant usage time, hearing education level before cochlear implant surgery, implant brand, hearing aid usage status and duration of use, A General information form was filled in, which included questions about taking the history of the child, such as speaking a second language with the child at home. Obtained data were analyzed using t-tests and correlation. As a result of the analysis, a negative and significant correlation was observed between the age at which cochlear implant surgery was performed and the TEDIL receptive language standard scores. A positive and significant correlation was observed between the number of years of education of the parents and the TEDIL receptive and expressive language standard scores. It was observed that the TEDIL receptive language and expressive language standard scores of the patients in the high monthly income group were higher than the patients with low and medium monthly income, and this difference differed significantly. A negative significant correlation was observed between the time between the diagnosis of hearing and the time to start using the device and the TEDIL receptive language standard scores. A positive and significant correlation was observed between the duration of preoperative education and the TEDIL expressive language standard scores. It was determined that the frequency of speaking a second language with the child at home did not have a significant effect on the TEDIL receptive and expressive language standard scores, so it was not an obstacle to learning the official language.