How does duration of deafness and etiology affect the outcome of cochlear implantation?

Introduction: Between 2001 and 2012 245 postlingually deaf adults were operated with cochlear implantation at the Uppsala University Hospital/ Sweden. It is known that age, onset of deafness and etiology of deafness influence the outcome of speech perception.Methods: Retrospective study. Pre- and postoperative speech perception was analysed in all adult patient (245) who received a cochlear implant (CI). One year postoperatively, 22 patients still scored 0% in the monosyllabic speech-score test. These were compared to the 22 patients with the highest scores one year postoperatively, regarding duration of deafness and etiology.Results: The patients who scored 0% on the monosyllabic words had a mean duration of deafness of 23,5 years, compared to 12,1 year for the highest scoring patients. Among the patients lacking speech-perception acoustic neuroma and meningitis were overrepresented, in the other group Meniere´s disease. Interestingly most patients even with 0% speech-perception scores use their CI the whole day and are satisfied.Conclusion: In accordance with previous research, the result suggests a negative correlation between duration of deafness and CI outcome. However, the range is wide within both groups. Furthermore it seems that certain diagnoses correlate with outcome. Although some patients did not improve in speech perception, the majority expressed great satisfaction with the CI. Hence, neither long duration of deafness nor these etiologies should be considered as contraindications for receiving CI.Der Erstautor gibt keinen Interessenkonflikt an