Prospective Evaluation of the Associations Between Pre-Cochlear Implant Abilities and Cochlear Implant Quality of...

Although most cochlear implant (CI) research has focused on speech recognition ability as the primary outcome measure, research on self-reported, real-world functional outcomes as measured using patient-reported outcome measures is more limited but emerging. The present study explores the association between several pre-CI psychophysical and self-reported functional measures and corresponding CI quality of life (CIQOL) domain scores after implantation.

A longitudinal study design was used involving 45 participants who underwent cochlear implantation for their first CI for traditional bilateral hearing loss indications. Participants completed the CIQOL-35 Profile and a battery of domain-specific functional assessments pre-CI and at 3, 6, and 12 months post-CI-activation. Statistical analyses included multivariable repeated measures models to determine associations between pre-CI functional assessment scores and CIQOL domain scores.

Relative to their pre-CI abilities, participants demonstrated significant improvements in all CIQOL domains at 12-months post-CI, with varying effect sizes ( d range = 0.80 to 1.25). Moreover, pre-CI positive affect was significantly and positively associated with CIQOL-Emotional domain scores ( β = 0.7 [0.02 to 1.2]), and pre-CI social function/participation was significantly and positively associated with CIQOL-Social domain scores ( β = 1.0 [0.3 to 1.8]). No significant associations were identified between pre-CI speech recognition abilities and CIQOL Communication domain scores, or other pre-CI function measures and their corresponding CIQOL domain scores.

The results demonstrated associations between pre-CI positive affect and social function/participation on post-CI Emotional and Social CIQOL scores, respectively. However, other pre-CI functional assessments, particularly pre-CI speech recognition abilities, were not associated with CIQOL domain outcome scores.