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

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