Susana Andrade¹* and Jorge Humberto Martins²

¹ENT Specialist, Otorhinolaryngology Service - Centro Hospitalar de Coimbra, E.P.E., Portugal
²Audiologist at ENT Department of University Hospital Center of Coimbra, E.P.E., Portugal

*Corresponding Author: Susana Andrade, ENT Specialist, Otorhinolaryngology Service - Centro Hospitalar de Coimbra, E.P.E., Portugal.

Received: November 11, 2021; Published: November 29, 2021

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the benefits of cochlear implant in adults with more than 65 years of age at time of surgery compared with those obtained by adults implanted at younger ages. The author also intended to evaluate the impact of cochlear implantation in the quality of life of older patients.

Results: Outcomes of verbal discrimination performance in elderly cochlear implant users were generally lower than those obtained by the remaining adult population, with a statistical difference in 7 of 11 tests used in the study. The results obtained at the questionnaires answered by the elderly group revealed a significant reduction of hearing handicap after cochlear implantation.

Conclusions: Age alone should not be a contraindication for hearing rehabilitation by cochlear implant. Despite producing a lower performance compared to that achieved by younger patients, cochlear implant in the elderly provides a significant improvement in quality of life.

Keywords: Cochlear Implant; Elderly; Hearing Rehabilitation; Quality of Life

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Citation

Citation: Susana Andrade and Jorge Humberto Martins. “Cochlear Implant Hearing Rehabilitation in Elderly Patients".Acta Scientific Otolaryngology 3.12 (2021): 31-37.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Susana Andrade and Jorge Humberto Martins. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.