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Updated: Jan 3, 2026
Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
Parental Expectation and Perception of CI Benefits in Their Implanted Wards
Md Noorain Alam1, Sanjay Munjal1, Anuradha Sharma1
1ENT Department, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India.
Insights
Parents have high expectations for their children with cochlear implants (CI), anticipating improvements in communication and daily life. While generally positive about outcomes, specific concerns regarding speech quality and the implantation process require attention.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Audiology
- Otolaryngology
- Speech-Language Pathology
Background:
- Parental expectations significantly influence satisfaction with cochlear implant (CI) outcomes.
- Parents are uniquely positioned to evaluate CI impact within the child's environment.
- Understanding parental expectations is crucial for assessing CI benefits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify parental expectations for CI outcomes in children.
- To assess parents' perceptions of CI benefits and outcomes.
- To determine key parental concerns regarding their implanted children.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative analysis of data from 20 families with children implanted for over 2 years.
- Utilized two validated questionnaires: Parent Expectations Questionnaire for Cochlear Implants and Parents and their cochlear implanted child Questionnaire.
Main Results:
- Parents expect improved communication skills, including telephone use, soft sound detection, and understanding in noisy environments.
- Key parental concerns include speech quality, the implantation process, appointment logistics, and the decision-making journey.
- Parents generally hold high expectations across communication, social, and academic domains, with positive overall views on CI outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Parents exhibit high expectations for cochlear implant recipients across various life domains.
- While generally satisfied, parents identify specific areas needing improvement for optimal CI outcomes.
- Addressing parental concerns is vital for maximizing the benefits of cochlear implantation.
Abstract:
Parents of implanted children develop a set of expectations prior to implantation about future performance and outcomes of their child. This set of expectations has an important impact on post-implant satisfaction levels. The position of the parent in the household makes them uniquely placed to assess the impact of implantation in the context within which the child grows up. There is strong need to find out expectations of parents from CI outcomes in implanted children. The functional benefits of CI may be measured by administering the parental perception of CI benefits in their implanted wards. The primary aim of the study was to find out different expectations of CI outcomes in parents of CI users and the perception of CI outcomes in the parents of CI users. Secondary aim was to find out the most important concerns of parents towards their implanted children. Twenty families with a child implanted for duration of more than 2 years were selected for the study. Two questionnaires (1) Parent Expectations Questionnaire for Cochlear Implants (Nemours children clinic) and (2) Parents and their cochlear implanted child Questionnaire (O'Neill Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 68: 149-160 2004) were administered on these parents. Results were analyzed qualitatively. Parents expected their implanted children to use the telephone, to be able to detect soft sounds, to listen in crowds, to be able to easily understand others, and to show improvement in communication skills. The quality of speech, process of implantation, to take time off for the appointments at the implant centre and making decision to proceed with implantation were main concerns of the parents. Parents have a high expectation from their implanted children in all domains of life i.e. communication abilities, social and academic skills. Parents have high positive views about the outcomes of the CI. However there are areas which need attention for a positive outcome from the point of view of parents of implanted children.
