Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 3, 2026
Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
Rates of long-term cochlear implant use in children
Kevin James Contrera1, Janet Seolin Choi, Caitlin Rebecca Blake
1*Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; †Center on Aging and Health, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions; ‡Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; §Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; and ∥Departments of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Geriatric Medicine, Mental Health and Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
Objective:
To determine the rate of long-term cochlear implant (CI) use in children.
Study Design:
Consecutive case series.
Setting:
Tertiary referral center.
Patients:
Approximately 474 patients younger than 18 years who received a first CI from 1999 to 2011.
Interventions:
Cochlear implantation.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Regular CI use, defined as using the CI for 8 hours or greater per day.
Results:
We successfully contacted and obtained follow-up data on 402 patients (85%) via email, telephone, and postal survey. The rate of regular CI use was 93.2% (95% CI, 90.0-95.4) at 5 years postimplantation and 87.7% (95% CI, 82.9-91.3) at 10 years postimplantation. The mean number of hours of use per day was 12.0 hours (SD, 4.1 h). Cox proportional hazard regression analysis demonstrated a linear association between the age at implantation and the risk of discontinuing regular CI use. Rates of CI discontinuation increased by 18.2% per year of age at implantation (95% CI, 7.2%-30.4%). Reported reasons for CI use less than 8 hours per day include poor hearing benefit (53.2%), social pressure (21.3%), and recurrent displacement of the transmitter coil (17.0%).
Conclusion:
High rates of regular CI use are sustained after childhood implantation, and younger age at implantation is associated with a higher rate of continued device usage.
