Cochlear implantation in elderly patients: Hearing results

Abstract

Introduction: The aging of the population, as well as the expansion in the indications for implantation means that every day there are more implanted patients over 65 years of age, which represents a challenge in terms of hearing adjustment and optimization. Cochlear implantation in elderly patients has been found to generally lead to improvements in hearing and neurocognition, depression, social isolation, physical activity, and quality of life. Aim: The objectives of this study are to assess the characteristics of patients over 65 years of age implanted in a tertiary center, analyze the benefits and identify clinical particularities in this group of patients. Material and Method: A re- trospective study was carried out with a 5-year post-surgery follow-up of patients with a MED-EL implant, and a preoperative visit and follow-up with free-field audiometry and post-surgical speech audiometry were performed at one year, 3 years and 5 years post-surgery. Results: Sixteen unilaterally implanted patients were included. The mean age at onset of loss was 36.75 years. The mean age at surgery was 71.44 years. Hearing results were satisfactory, with a mean free field audiometry of 44.33 dB at one year, 43.33 dB at 3 years, and 41.66 dB at 5 years. The result in the verbal audiometries (disyllable test and sentence test) was better in the group of patients with bimodal adaptation. Conclusión: In our experience, cochlear implantation in patients > 65 years of age does manage to improve hearing capacities measured both in free-field audiometry and in verbal tests. Bimodal adaptation improves auditory results, despite the difficulty ofprocessing the two different stimuli.