SCIENCE UPDATE

New scientific studies summarized for you

How one cochlear implant, quality of life and individualized rehabilitation are linked.

(Original title: QoL, CIs, QALYs, and Individualized Rehabilitation: The Clinical and Practical Benefits of Regularly Assessing the Quality of Life of Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients. Int J Environ Res Public Health.2023 Oct 10; 20(20):6906. Lassaletta L et al.)

Key message:

Unilateral cochlear implant users self-report a significantly improved quality of life, no matter if they have single-sided deafness, asymmetric hearing loss or severe-profound hearing loss in both ears. These self-assessment findings can be used for clinical staff in order to tailor and personalize post-operative rehabilitation and speech therapy to users’ real-life needs.

Methods:

• Multicenter study
• 101 adults with postlingual hearing loss with
  • Single-sided deafness (n=17) – PTA ≥ 70 dB in affected ear)
  • Asymmetric hearing loss (n=26) – PTA ≥ 70 dB in poorer ear and >30 to ≤55 dB in better ear
  • Severe-profound bilateral hearing loss (n=58)
• Health Utility Index (HUI)-3 used for assessment for generic quality of life
• Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing scale (SSQ12) and
  Nijmegen CI Questionnaire (NCIQ)Assessment used for disease-specific quality of life (=hearing)
• Assessment intervals: pre-operative, 6 months and 12 months after first fitting

Results:

All three groups reported a significant improvement for generic quality of life as well as for hearing-specific quality of life after unilateral cochlear implantation. The asymmetric and profound bilateral hearing loss groups benefitted significantly on most, resp. all questionnaire domains, including sound perception, self-esteem and social interactions.

Daily processor use was ≥12 hours for the majority of participants, which underlines the benefits cochlear implant users derive from their device.

Link to open access article: QoL, CIs, QALYs, and Individualized Rehabilitation