Preoperative Hearing Aids Improve Outcomes of Cochlear Implantation

We aimed to investigate the effects of preoperative auditory rehabilitation using hearing aids in patients with prolonged hearing deprivation.

We retrospectively enrolled 204 patients who underwent cochlear implantation surgery at age >60 years using a single university hospital database. In total, 135 patients with a duration of deafness (DoD) >10 years were divided into three groups according to perioperative hearing aid use: unaided (n=22, 16.3%), aided (n=92, 68.1%; comprising 22 ipsilateral hearing aid users and 70 bilateral hearing aid users), and contralateral-only aided (n=21, 15.5%). We identified the highest postoperative sentence recognition score (Max_S) and compared this measure across groups.

Max_S was significantly higher in the DoD <10 years group than in the DoD ≥10 years group (72.38±25.74 vs. 64.09±32.29, P=0.048). Among patients with DoD ≥10 years, the aided group had significantly better Max_S than the unaided group (69.84±28.72 vs. 47.86±37.14, P=0.015). After one-to-two propensity score matching, Max_S remained significantly better in the aided group than in the unaided group (73.64±29.10 vs. 47.86±37.14, P=0.007).

Our study demonstrated the need for hearing rehabilitation during the period of hearing deprivation, including on the ear to be implanted, regardless of whether it produced immediate improvement in hearing levels.