Quality of life assessment in paediatric cochlear implant recipients in South India: Parental assessment and correlation with rehabilitation scores using a bilingual quality of life assessment questionnaire

Objectives: To assess the quality of life (QoL) of prelingually deaf paediatric population after Cochlear implantation (CI), using a bilingual questionnaire and to correlate with rehabilitation scores; to validate the questionnaire and recommend its use in future studies. Methods: This was a questionnaire based cross-sectional study. Parents of 151 paediatric prelingual CI recipients filled the questionnaire using a 5-point rating scale, with a score of 1-5. These scores were correlated with the CAP and SIR scores. Results and discussion: There was a positive correlation of QoL score with rehabilitation outcomes (r = 0.4638 and P <= 0.00001 for CAP; r = 0.3563 and P <= 0.00001 for SIR scores). The maximum scores (>= 4.0) were given by parents for integration into educational system (4.86), response to environmental sounds (4.12) and overall parental satisfaction about child's performance (4.09). Minimum scores were given for ability to speak in sentences (2.9) and response to verbal sounds at a distance (3.23). Conclusion: The QoL of these children as assessed by the institutional questionnaire have correlated with the rehabilitation outcomes. These QoL results have a positive impact in counselling for early CI as well as for rehabilitation.