Evaluation of the quality of life in adults with cochlear implants: As good as the healthy adults?

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the quality of life (QoL) of adult CI users with the QoL of adults in the healthy and normal-hearing population.

Materials and methods: 31 patients with CIs were included in the CI group, and 31 normal-hearing subjects were included in the control group. The QoL was evaluated using the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) for all subjects.

Results: A comparison of the QoL of the CI group to that of the control group found that the QoL of healthy adults was better than that of the CI users. The results obtained for the subdomains of physical health, psychological health, and social relations showed statistically significant differences between the two groups (p < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups in the subdomains of environment and general health (p > 0.05).

Conclusions: The effect of a hearing disability on daily life continues after the CI. As expected, adults with CIs still face challenges in their daily lives due to the hearing impairment.

Keywords: Cochlear implant; Healthy adults; Hearing loss; Quality of life.