The role of parental hearing status in theory of mind after cochlear implant surgery

Kourosh Amraei, Mohammadparsa Azizi, Amirali Khoshkhabar, H Soori

Indian Journal of Otology 2018 24(3):157-161

Introduction: Theory of mind (ToM), or the understanding of others' thoughts and feelings and their behavioral consequences, has been extensively studied in hearing typically developing preschool children over several decades, including research demonstrating the influence of ToM on preschool children's social lives. Hearing impairment is common type of sensory loss in children. Literature indicates that children with hearing impairment deficit in social, cognitive, and communicate skills. Aim: This study performed to compare ToM of cochlear-implanted first- and second-generation deaf children. Methodology: This research is causal comparative. All 15 deaf children with deaf parent selected from Baqiyatallah Cochlear Implant (CI) Center. Hence, 15 cochlear-implanted children paired with them by purposive sampling. Results: Findings showed that t-test (t = −4.52, P < 0.01) was statistically significant. According to t-test, the second-generation children was significantly higher than the first-generation children in ToM. Conclusion: We can assume that the second-generation children were joined with their family in sign language, lead to the use of primary experience before of implant. So, it is recommended to use the sign language before cochlear implantation.

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