Benefit and Quality of Life Improvement in Older Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients: A Review of the Literature
The aging population is increasing rapidly, and in this group hearing loss is one of the most common disabilities. For those with severe to profound impairment, which occurs in approximately 10% of this population, conventional amplification often fails to provide adequate benefit. In these cases, a cochlear implant is indicated. The literature on cochlear implantation in older adults has shown that it offers significant speech perception and quality of life benefits to this population. However, it remains controversial despite ample research demonstrating these benefits, due to concerns about surgical complications and reduced benefit due to aging processes. Much literature also compares this population to younger adults, with a roughly equal number finding significant differences in speech perception performance as not. This review is the most comprehensive to date on this subject, and looks at the literature analyzing both speech performance and quality of life benefits of cochlear implantation in older adults.
City University of New York - Graduate Center
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The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York