Hearing and Brain Development Cohort in Children and Adolescents

A Longitudinal Cohort Study of Hearing and Brain Development in Children and Adolescents With Hearing Loss Across Different Hearing Management Pathways and in Normal-Hearing Controls

This bidirectional observational cohort study aims to establish a Hearing and Brain Development (HBD) cohort in children and adolescents with hearing loss across different hearing management pathways, including hearing aid fitting, cochlear implantation, auditory brainstem implantation, gene therapy, and follow-up without intervention, as well as in a normal-hearing control group. Participants will undergo longitudinal assessments of hearing, speech, language, neurodevelopment, and multimodal brain function.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age no more than 18 years.
• For the HA/CI/ABI/GT/FU groups: behavioral or pure-tone hearing threshold >=20 dB HL, or air-conduction ABR >=35 dB nHL; For the normal-hearing control group: participants diagnosed as normal hearing by experienced physicians.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Inability to cooperate with study testing procedures.