Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 6, 2025
06:04
Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
494
Using Clinical Audiologic Measures to Determine Cochlear Implant Candidacy
Priyanka Reddy1, James R Dornhoffer1, Elizabeth L Camposeo1
1Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
Audiology & Neuro-Otology
|January 17, 2022
Summary
Standard audiologic assessments can help identify cochlear implant (CI) candidates. Specific pure-tone thresholds and word recognition scores effectively differentiate those who may benefit from CI evaluation.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Otolaryngology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Cochlear implant (CI) uptake remains low, with only 6-10% of eligible patients receiving them.
- Confusion regarding patient selection criteria may contribute to underutilization of CI evaluations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the effectiveness of standard audiological measures in identifying suitable candidates for cochlear implant (CI) evaluation.
- To establish evidence-based criteria for CI referral using conventional audiological tests.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of 518 patients undergoing CI evaluations (2012-2020).
- Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves analyzed aided AzBio sentence recognition scores and CNC word recognition scores (WRSs).
- Evaluated pure-tone thresholds, pure-tone average (PTA), and WRSs for differentiating CI candidates.
Main Results:
- CNC WRS, 1,000 Hz pure-tone threshold, and PTA showed high accuracy (AUC-ROC 0.86-0.88) in identifying candidates using aided AzBio in quiet.
- CNC WRS demonstrated fair capacity (AUC-ROC 0.73) when using aided AzBio +10 dB signal-to-noise ratio scores.
- Referral indicators include 1,000 Hz PTA >50 dB HL, PTA >57 dB HL, and monosyllabic WRS <60%.
Conclusions:
- Standard audiological assessments can provide valuable indicators for cochlear implant (CI) evaluation referrals.
- This study offers initial evidence-based criteria to guide audiologists in selecting patients for CI candidacy assessment.
- Refining referral criteria may improve CI utilization rates among appropriate patient groups.
