Non-users and limited users of cochlear implants

This study evaluates the incidence of non-use and limited use of cochlear implants and attempts to identify predictors of such outcome. This involved a retrospective analysis of questionnaires, clinical and audiological data of 423 cochlear implant recipients from the Midland Adult Cochlear Implant Programme and Birmingham Paediatric Cochlear Implant Programme between 1990 and 2000. Of the 172 children in the paediatric programme 5 (2.9%) were non/limited users and of the 251 adults in the adult programme 7 (2.78%) were non/limited users. Thus in total 12 (2.82%) recipients were deemed to be either limited users (0.94%) or non-users (1.89%) of their implants. The mean duration of deafness prior to implantation was around 10 years in both the paediatric and adult groups. In the paediatric group, peer pressure played a prominent role in the non-use of implant. Depression, tinnitus, concomitant neurological problems and non-auditory stimulation seemed to be the predominant reasons in the older age group. The reasons for limited use were cognitive slowing and problems with background noise.