J Am Acad Audiol 2024; 35(07/08): 178-184
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1791212
Research Article

Self-reported Hearing Quality of Life for Adolescent Cochlear Implant Recipients: A Longitudinal Study

Lisa S. Davidson
1   Department of Otolaryngology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
2   Central Institute for the Deaf, St. Louis, Missouri
,
Ann E. Geers
3   School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas
,
Rosalie M. Uchanski
1   Department of Otolaryngology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
,
Kathryn Siu
4   Program in Audiology and Communication Sciences, Department of Otolaryngology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
› Author Affiliations
Funding This work is supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (grant RO1 DC012778).

Abstract

Background Clinicians are increasingly interested in self-reported hearing-specific quality of life (HQoL) for cochlear implant (CI) recipients, including pediatric CI recipients.

Purpose (1) To compare HQoL of adolescent CI recipients to those of peers with typical hearing (TH); (2) to examine, longitudinally, HQoL for a set of CI recipients; and (3) to determine the effects of child, demographic, audiological, speech perception, and language variables on adolescent HQoL.

Research Design Hearing Environments and Reflections on Quality of Life (HEARQL) questionnaires were completed by children with CIs at elementary (HEARQL-26) and adolescent (HEARQL-28) ages.

Study Sample Eighty CI recipients and 21 children with TH.

Data Collection and Analysis HEARQL-28 scores for the CI and TH groups were compared using nonparametric tests. Regression models were used to examine longitudinal results and to explore predictor variables for adolescent CI participants' HEARQL-28 scores.

Results HEARQL-28 scores for CI participants were lower than those of peers with TH. For both CI and TH adolescents, the HEARQL subscale with the lowest score is “Hearing Situations.” CI participants' HEARQL scores at elementary age were not significantly correlated with scores at adolescence. Over 70% of unexplained variance remains even after inclusion of variables with established contributions to traditional CI benefit.

Conclusions Self-reported HEARQL scores are largely unexplained for pediatric CI recipients; multidisciplinary explorations of other sources of variance, such as social, emotional, and psychosocial factors, should be pursued.

Previous Presentation

This work was presented at the European Symposium on Pediatric Cochlear Implantation in Rotterdam, Denmark on June 3, 2023.


Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 28 October 2023

Accepted: 12 February 2024

Article published online:
19 December 2024

© 2024. American Academy of Audiology. This article is published by Thieme.

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333 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA

 
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