By not choosing an implant, you are making the choice for your child
In the case of profoundly deaf children who cannot be amplified to hear in the speech banana, the argument of "letting the child decide" does not make sense to me. This is a decision for the child in itself.
If you have the child communicate through sign until they are old enough to "choose" for themselves, you have made the choice for them to not exercise their auditory pathways for years. Should they later decide they wish to hear, you will have chosen for them to have grown up without developing their speech and hearing skills to the point where they will never develop as they would have with the benefit of cochlear implants.
I understand that there are reasons for both choices, but to advance the opinion that opting for an implant is wrong because you are making a "choice" for your child is nonsensical to me.
I would imagine that it would be easier for an adult to decide to not use their implants and learn to use sign language fluently after speaking for 10-15 years when compared to teaching a person who has not spoken for 10-15 years to speak as well as someone who has been "hearing" that entire time.
Either way you are choosing that child's path for them. What they do when they reach the age of majority is up to them, and either way I think they can be successful. My personal choice is to give my child the ability to hear, and if they decide to not use that ability later in life, that will be their educated decision.
