Health-related quality of life and associated developmental domains of children provided early with cochlear implants

Abstract

Objectives

Quality of life plays an important place in the psychosocial development of children with Cochlear Implants (CI). We assesd health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children with CI and in hearing children and determined relationships between HRQoL and other developmental characteristics (social-emotional development, Theory of Mind (ToM), spoken language skills).

Methods

A longitudinal study was conducted including children with CI and hearing children. We used instruments that are widely employed and have been validated for research. At time 1 social-emotional development, ToM and spoken language skills were assessed.HRQoL was assessed using the generic KINDL questionnaire, as was social-emotional development, 2.5 years later (time 2).

Results

No significant difference was seen in HRQoL between hearing children and children with CI. We show that the age of detection, the age of hearing care, and the start of early intervention are not related to HRQoL of children with CI, but relationships with some domains of social-emotional development are evident.

Conclusions

This study highlights the importance of targeted intervention not only to improve spoken language skills at preschool age, but also strengthen social-emotional and social-cognitive competences.

Keywords:

• Health-related quality of life
• Cochlear implants
• Age at implantation
• Social-emotional development
• Early intervention

Data availability statement

The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.

Disclaimer statements

Contributors: SK, TB, MH, VH designed and conceived the study, and provided conceptual guidance and commentary. SK and VH collected the data. MH and TB analyzed the data. SK, TB, MH, VH interpreted the data and contributed to writing the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final version for publication

Funding: None

Conflict of interests: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval: This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the Ethics Committee of the University of Freiburg. All subjects gave electronic informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The protocol was approved by Ethics Committee of the University of Freiburg.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vanessa Hoffmann

Vanessa Hoffmann studied logopedics and is a professor of therapy sciences at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg. Previously, she worked in various speech therapy practices, at a school for hearing-impaired students, and for numerous years in the hearing implant industry. Her research focus on the care and rehabilitation of hearing impaired children and adults.

Stefanie Kröger

Stefanie Kröger made her Ph.D. 2005. She studied speech therapy and worked in various practices and taught at speech therapy schools before taking over as head of hearing and speech therapy at the Implant Centrum Freiburg in 2006. Her main areas of study are hearing and speech development and social-emotional development in children with CI.

Thorsten Burger

Thorsten Burger is a psychologist and professor of special education at the Catholic University of Freiburg/Germany. Before that, he worked for many years as a psychologist at a school for hearing-impaired students and in psychological counseling and diagnostics at the Cochlear Implant Center at the Freiburg University Hospital.

Manfred Hintermair

Manfred Hintermair was a Professor of Psychology at the University of Education in Heidelberg, Germany. His research focus on issues related to the social-emotional development of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children and to resource-oriented work with families of DHH children.