Cochlear implant usage in single sided deafness and factors affecting usage

The primary objective was to examine duration of daily cochlear implant (CI) usage at 12 and 24 months post-operatively in single sided deafness (SSD). The secondary objective was to examine factors that could affect CI usage.

Retrospective cohort of patients with SSD who received CI from January 2015 to March 2020. CI usage was evaluated at 12 and 24 months. Hearing loss duration, tinnitus scores and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were correlated with CI usage at 12 months.

Usage data was available for 54 patients at 12 months and 38 patients at 24 months. The mean usage was 8.2 h/day (SD 4.2) at 12 months, 7.0 h/day (SD 5.1) at 24 months. 5 out of 54 (9.3%) and 7 out of 38 patients (18.4%) were non-users at 12 and 24 months post-operatively. An improved mean SNR score from pre-operative 4.4 dB (SD 2.8) to - 0.70 dB (SD 4.2) at 12 months post-operative was positively correlated with CI usage at 12 and 24 months. Hearing loss duration and tinnitus scores were not associated with CI usage.

18.4% of our patients were non-users at 24 months. Mean usage at 24 months was 7.0 h/day. Improved hearing in noise at 12 months was correlated with better usage.