Quality of Life after Cochlear Implantation in Older Adults Is Related to Speech Perception

To assess the relationship between quality of life and speech perception outcomes in older adult cochlear implant (CI) recipients.

Retrospective review and cross-sectional survey study.

Tertiary care center.

Traditional CI recipients 65 years and older implanted between 2015 and 1Implant Quality of Life (CIQOL-35) survey completed within 1 year of most recent speech perception testing.

AzBio in quiet and +10 dB SNR in the binaural everyday listening condition; CIQOL-35 responses.

A total of 156 patients completed the survey within 1 year of most recent speech perception testing. Their demographics, otologic history, comorbidity index, and cognitive screen were collected alongside pre- and postoperative speech perception outcomes. Median age at implantation was 76.3 years (range, 65.0-97.2), and median age at CIQOL-35 was 78.0 years (range, 66.1-100.6). The mean CIQOL-Global was 48.3 (SD, 9.8), with scores across domains ranging from 34.9 (SD, 14.0) (Listening Effort) to 63.4 (SD, 19.3) (Social). Bivariate analysis showed that CIQOL-Global had positive correlations with AzBio quiet ( ρ  = 0.413 [95% CI, 0.22-0.58]) and AzBio +10 dB SNR ( r =  0.537 [95% CI, 0.37-0.65]). Significance and strength of correlation remained true after controlling for age, cognitive screen, and duration of hearing loss using multivariable regression on 56 participants with complete data (standardized beta = 0.55). This model explained 38% of the CIQOL-35 global score variability ( R2  = 0.378).

AzBio +10 dB SNR performance is positively correlated with CIQOL-35, but much of the variability in QOL remains unexplained.