Cochlear Implantation Improves Both Speech Perception and Patient-Reported Outcomes: A Prospective Follow-Up Study of Treatment Benefits among Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients.

Cochlear implantation is considered the best treatment option for patients with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss for whom conventional hearing aids are insufficient. We used a repeated measures longitudinal approach to evaluate speech recognition and patient-reported outcomes after cochlear implantation in an unbiased cohort of Danish adult patients in a prospective cohort study. We assessed 39 recipients before and two times after implantation using a battery of tests that included Dantale I, the Danish Hearing in Noise Test, the Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire, and the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale. The study group improved significantly on all outcome measures following implantation. On average, Dantale I scores improved by 29 percentage points and Hearing in Noise Test scores improved by 22 percentage points. Most notably, the average Dantale score improved from 26 to 70% in the CI in quiet condition and from 12 to 42% in the cochlear implantation in noise condition when tested monaurally. Dantale demonstrated a significant positive correlation with Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire and Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale scores, while Hearing in Noise Test had no significant correlation with the patient-reported outcome measures. Patients improved significantly at 4 months and marginally improved further at 14 months, indicating that they were approaching a plateau. Our study's use of audiometric and patient-reported outcome measures provides evidence of the treatment benefits of cochlear implantation in adults, which may help physicians advise patients on treatment decisions and align treatment benefit expectations, as well as serve as a foundation for the development of new cochlear implantation selection criteria.

Nordic results of cochlear implantation in adults: speech perception and patient reported outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Although cochlear implantation (CI) is widely performed in postlingually hearing-impaired adults in the Nordic countries, the literature on hearing outcomes remains scarce. Aims/objectives: To evaluate and correlate hearing outcomes after implantation. METHODS: Prospective evaluation of 40 adult first-implantation recipients pre- and post-implantation with Dantale, the Danish Hearing in Noise Test (HINT), the Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire (NCIQ) and the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ12). RESULTS: Dantalemean increased from 50% (95% CI [41.7,58.4])) to 73% (95% CI [66.6,80.1]) and 19% (95% CI [13.3,25.1]) to 40%(95% CI [32.1,46.7]) (quiet/noise). HINTwords increased from 71% (95% CI [58.8,83.8]) to 83% (95% CI [69.8,95.4]) and 59% (95% CI [46.2,70.6]) to 73% (95% CI [63.3,82.8]) (quiet/noise). NCIQmean changed from 277 (95% CI [252.4,301.6]) to 396 (95% CI [366.7,424.7]) and SSQ12mean from 27 (95% CI [21.3,31.8]) to 48 (95% CI [39.4,55.6]). Correlations coefficients were r s = 0.39-0.74 (p < .01) between Dantale/HINT, rs = 0.78 (p < .0001) between NCIQ/SSQ12, r s = 0.41-0.59 (p < .01) between NCIQ/SSQ12 and Dantale and r s = 0.24-0.41 (ns) between NCIQ/SSQ12 and HINT. CONCLUSION: The study documents a high auditory performance and patient-perceived improvement after implantation and advocate broader awareness of implantation as treatment option in the growing population of severe-to-profound hearing-impaired adults. Correlations between hearing measures may influence future evaluation practices.

Auditory verbal skills training is a new approach in adult cochlear implant rehabilitation.

INTRODUCTION: Outcome after cochlear implantation in adults varies and is affected by many factors. One factor is auditory training after implantation. No national guidelines for adult auditory training currently exist in Denmark. An auditory verbal skills training (AVST) rehabilitation programme was developed and applied at the East Danish Cochlear Implant (CI) Centre (Rigshospitalet, Gentofte Unit). The AVST intervention was inspired by the auditory verbal therapy practice and targeted the paediatric population and their families. The objectives were to document the outcome for first-time adult CI users, to apply and explore the effects of the AVST and to examine CI users' possibly extended need for technical follow-up. METHODS: A prospective comparative study design was used. Ten CI users participated in AVST with a relative. Seven CI users were included in a control group. The outcome measures of speech understanding and quality of life (QoL) were recorded pre-implant and post-implant. RESULTS: All participants showed improved speech understanding and a higher QoL post-implant. The within-group analyses showed significant improvements in outcome over time. However, no differences were seen in the between-group analyses post-implant. The CI users in the intervention group received more CI fine-tuning. CONCLUSIONS: The AVST was successfully implemented at the CI Centre. Improvements in speech understanding and QoL were seen in both groups over time, but no differences were seen between the groups. The CI users in the intervention group received more fine-tuning of their processor. FUNDING: Oticon Medical A/S supported the study financially. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not relevant as the study applied a prospective method study design.