Capability of deaf children with a cochlear implant

Abstract

Introduction

The main idea underlying this paper is that impairments such as deafness are particularly relevant to the extent that they lead to deprivation of capability. Likewise, the impact of healthcare services such as cochlear implants and subsequent rehabilitation can best be inferred from the extent that they protect or restore capability of those affected.

Methods

To explore children’s post-implant capabilities, we tested two newly developed digital, adaptive child self-report and parent-report questionnaires in 19 deaf children (aged 8–12 years) and their parents during rehabilitation, as well as in 23 age peers with normal hearing.

Results

Despite the impressive speech-language results that were recorded with cochlear implants, the post-implant capabilities of the deaf children we evaluated differed from those of their hearing peers, with the cochlear implant group appearing particularly disadvantaged in areas such as accessing information, communication, social participation, and participation in school.

Conclusion

Deaf children with cochlear implants who are performing well on linguistic and auditory tests can still experience serious limitations in desired functioning. Our findings suggest that a capability approach may reveal aspects of what is being achieved through rehabilitation that might otherwise remain unnoticed, and that could help to further improve the well-being of our patients.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• Overall, children with cochlear implants appeared disadvantaged in certain capability areas, like accessing information, communication, social participation, and participation in school.

• It may be worthwhile to also ascertain capabilities in these children, representing a domain not covered by clinical measures, tapping directly into areas that are valuable to the patient.

Keywords:

• Deafness
• rehabilitation
• capability approach
• conversion factors
• functioning
• cochlear implants
• children
• quality of life

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the parents and children for their participation in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.