Just a thought of asking about Cochlear implant- My son since birth was diagnosed to have Pierrerobin Syndrome (recessed chin w/c tends the tongue to ball up and obstruct air w/c makes breathing very difficult). And later diagnosed to have a moderate to severe hearing loss (bilateral). My question is... How will the cochlear implant help my son from hearing? Are hearing aids much better than the implant in young kids? How risky is the implant to young kids? Hoping to hear from you soon. Thank you.

Dear Mrs. Rogers
You are certainly doing everything to help Jason, and that includes providing the best amplification possible for him. You wrote that he has a moderate to severe hearing loss and you are wondering if a cochlear implant will be beneficial. Depending on the exact levels of hearing and the frequencies at which Jason has a moderate loss and a severe loss, a cochlear implant might be helpful. For example, if he has a 45 dB loss through most tones and a 75 dB loss just in one high tone, he will probably do well with hearing aids. If his hearing loss 55 dB in the low tones and 80 dB in the mid and high tones, an implant could be considered. Since both of these examples are moderate to severe hearing losses, you can see that they vary greatly. Also, candidacy for an implant is not just based on audiologic evaluations. The implant team will consider your child's ability to understand speech with his hearing aids, and they will also think about his communication skills. There is much to consider.
You asked if hearing aids are better for young children rather than an implant. Since it is known that children develop their language skills between the ages of 2 and 3 years, younger children benefit more from the cochlear implant than older children. In fact, some children as being implanted as young as one year old now.
Of course there is some risk with any surgery, and you are concerned about that. In general, cochlear implant surgery has no complications if done by a skilled surgeon who has experience. And most children return home the same day as the surgery.
You might want to assess our special paper, "An Introduction to the Cochlear Implant" which is available on the John Tracy Clinic website. It will give you some valuable basic information. And talk to your audiologist. Also, if you can send a copy of Jeremiah's audiologic evaluations both with and without hearing aids, I can discuss this further with you.
I hope this information has been helpful for you. Please contact me if you have any more questions.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Sutherland