Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a 60/60 referral guideline for identifying patients who should be referred for a cochlear implant candidacy evaluation (CICE), which states patients should be referred if they demonstrate a best ear unaided monosyllabic word score less than or equal to 60% correct and if they demonstrate an unaided pure-tone average in their better ear that is greater than or equal to 60 dB HL.
Study design: Retrospective review of data from adults who participated in a CICE.
Setting: A single tertiary medical facility.
Patients: Five hundred twenty-nine patients who participated in a CICE.
Intervention: CICEs included unaided threshold assessment, unaided speech recognition, and aided word and sentence testing.
Main outcome measure: Ninety-five percent of patients who met traditional indications for a cochlear implant (n = 250) had a pure-tone average that was greater than or equal to 60 dB, while 92% had a better ear unaided monosyllabic word score that was less than or equal to 60%.
Results: If used as a screening measure, the 60/60 measure resulted in a 96% detection rate and a 34% false-positive rate for identifying adults who would meet traditional indications for a cochlear implant.
Conclusions: Hearing professionals should consider referring patients for a CICE when they meet the 60/60 guideline. It is hoped that provision of this guideline will result in greater numbers of adults being referred for CICEs, improving access to cochlear implants for patients who may benefit from this important technology.