Functional hearing quality in prelingually deaf school-age children and adolescents with cochlear implants

This study investigated differences in functional hearing quality between youth with cochlear implants (CIs) and normal hearing (NH) peers, as well as associations between functional hearing quality and audiological measures, speech perception, language and executive functioning (EF).

Youth with CIs and NH peers completed measures of audiological functioning, speech perception, language and EF. Parents completed the Quality of Hearing Scale (QHS), a questionnaire measure of functional hearing quality.

Participants were 43 prelingually-deaf, early-implanted, long-term CI users and 43 NH peers aged 7-17 years.

Compared to NH peers, youth with CIs showed poorer functional hearing quality on the QHS Speech, Localization, and Sounds subscales and more hearing effort on the QHS Effort subscale. QHS scores did not correlate significantly with audiological/hearing history measures but were significantly correlated with most speech perception, language and EF scores in the CI sample. In the NH sample, QHS scores were uncorrelated with speech perception and language and were inconsistently correlated with EF.

The QHS is a valid measure of functional hearing quality that is distinct from office-based audiometric or hearing history measures. Functional hearing outcomes are associated with speech-language and EF outcomes in CI users.