Objective:
The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of cochlear implantation (CI) on the cognitive abilities of people aged 70 years or older.
Patients and method:
15 post-lingual deafened CI candidates, aged 70 years or older (77.2 ± 5.3 years) with unilateral CI were examined in this prospective study. The study took place between 2015 and 2017. In the follow-up period of at least 12 months the cognitive abilities, measured by the working memory and the processing speed (Wechsler intelligence test 4th ed.) as well as the speech recognition (Freiburg monosyllable test 65 dB SPL; adaptive OLSA) were determined and statistically evaluated. Depressive symptoms were asked with the (ADS-L).
Results:
Postoperatively, there is a significant correlation between processing speed and speech perception (OLSA; p < 0.05, rs =-0.569). Cognitive abilities were stable for 12 months. Speech perception showed a significant improvement. Depression in the elderly population was preoperatively low (11.4 ± 6.8).
Conclusion:
The results show the influence of speech perception in the sentence test by cognitive abilities in CI users aged 70 years or older. The cognitive outcome 12 months after implantation was stable. This supports the hypothesis that CI improves cognitive ability. The findings can be useful in upcoming patient counseling and education.
