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Updated: Dec 8, 2025
Author Spotlight: Advancements in Impedance Monitoring for Cochlear Implant Surgery
Published on: August 4, 2023
Anamnesis as a Prognostic Factor in Cochlear Implantation in Adults
Eleftherios Savvas1, Katharina Heslinga2, Christoph Otto Spiekermann2
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Münster, Münster, Germany, eleftherios.savvas@ukmuenster.de.
Introduction:
This study aims to analyze possible preoperative factors taken from the medical history that may assist the otolaryngologist in counseling an adult patient before cochlear implantation (CI).
Objective:
Analysis of preoperative factors taken during the initial patient presentation for a possible prognostic role in the auditory rehabilitation outcome.
Methods:
A cohort of 232 (272 CI implantations) postlingually deafened adults was evaluated in this study. Hearing results at 1, 2, and up to 3 years postoperatively were compared with various preoperative factors: living status, cause of deafness, gender, side of implantation, residual hearing, and duration of deafness. Postoperative hearing performance was measured based on the German Freiburg monosyllabic word test and the Oldenburg sentence test.
Results:
Duration of deafness showed a negative correlation to word recognition and a positive correlation to increased speech reception threshold in sentence testing. A significant decline in hearing outcome was shown starting around the second decade of deafness. Residual hearing as defined in our cohort and side of implantation showed limited benefit in speech understanding. Living status, gender, and cause of deafness did not show any prognostic value.
Conclusion:
In this retrospective review it could be shown that simple case history information can only provide limited prognostic insight before CI. The duration of deafness is the most reliable anamnestic factor present on initial patient evaluation.
