What can we expect of normally-developing children implanted at a young age with respect to their auditory, linguistic and cognitive skills?

As a result of neonatal hearing screening and subsequent early cochlear implantation (CI) profoundly
deaf children have access to important information to process auditory signals and master spoken
language skills at a young age. Nevertheless, auditory, linguistic and cognitive outcome measures still
reveal great variability in individual achievements: some children with CI(s) perform within normal
limits, while others lag behind. Understanding the causes of this variation would allow clinicians to offer
better prognoses to CI candidates and efficient follow-up and rehabilitation. This paper summarizes what
we can expect of normally developing children with CI(s) with regard to spoken language, bilateral and
binaural auditory perception, speech perception and cognitive skills. Predictive factors of performance
and factors influencing variability are presented, as well as some novel data on cognitive functioning and
speech perception in quiet and in noise. Subsequently, we discuss technical and non-technical issues
which should be considered in the future in order to optimally guide the child with profound hearing
difficulties.