Cochlear implant in prelingually hearing-impaired adults: prognostic factors and results

Objectives. The aim of present study is to evaluate the impact of prognostic factors on the outcome in a group of prelingually hearing-impaired patients submitted to cochlear implantation (CI) at an adult age. Methods. This is a retrospective study on a cohort of prelingually severe-to-profound hearing-impaired patients cochlear implanted in adulthood and followed by a single audiology centre. We correlated post-CI results in term of speech perception with patients' speech perception with hearing aids before implantation, history of progression of hearing loss (HL), and levels of education and cognition. The study group was composed of 49 patients. Results. Post-CI open-set recognition score in silence and noise was significantly correlated with pre-CI open-set recognition score in silence and with background noise. Patients with a history of progression of HL gained significantly better results. Furthermore, we found higher improvements in patients with a higher level of education. Conclusions. Prelingually deafened patients implanted in adulthood achieved satisfactory results. Significantly better results were achieved by patients with better pre-operative speech perception scores, progressive HL and higher level of education.