A comparative study of psychosocial development in children who receive cochlear implants

Abstract

Objectives

This study assessed self-reported quality of life of children with a cochlear implant (CI), comparing results with two published reports from the past decade.

Methods

Participants included 33 pediatric CI recipients with a mean age of 10.12 years (SD = 3.59), mean implantation age of 1.36 years (SD = 0.46), and mean CI experience of 6.23 years (SD = 1.75). Children in all three studies completed a self-report quality-of-life questionnaire that included seven benefit and six problem items, rated on a 5-point Likert scale.

Results

Outcomes revealed agreement across studies in overall benefit and problem ratings. Environmental awareness and frustration reduction were the most and least positively rated outcomes, respectively. Items contributing to overall ratings differed across studies. Current CI recipients rated speech production, making new friends, and understanding speech more positively and taking extra care of the device more negatively than previous generations of pediatric CI users.

Discussion

Overall, benefits outweigh problems of the device, according to children using CI. Differences in issues motivating self-report ratings reflect changes in CI candidacy, technology, and social participation over the past decade. These findings emphasize the need for clinicians to address not only communication needs, but also quality-of-life issues to optimize outcomes in children using CI.

Keywords:

• Cochlear implant
• Quality of life
• Children
• Hearing loss

Acknowledgments

This project was conducted as part of the Dallas Cochlear Implant Program, a collaborative enterprise of The University of Texas at Dallas, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Medical Center. Portions of this manuscript have been presented at the 13th Symposium on Cochlear Implants in Children in Chicago, Illinois (July, 2011). Funding for this project was supported in part by (a) Grant Number 1 UL1 RR024982–01, titled, ‘North and Central Texas Clinical and Translational Science Initiative’ (M. Packer, M.D., PI) from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research; (b) the Med-El Corporation, and (c) the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation (B. Loy, PI; Warner-Czyz, Co-PI). Thank you to Roshini Kumar, who spearheaded data entry for this project. We gratefully acknowledge cooperation and participation of the children and families who attended the Colorado Neurological Institute Cochlear Kids CI summer camp in Estes Park, Colorado.