Age No Barrier to Cochlear Implants

Age has no effect on outcome after implantation of a cochlear device among people over 65, a study has found, suggesting that elderly patients should not be discriminated against in assessments for cochlear implant candidacy.

To help clarify the effect of age on outcome, Dr. John K. Niparko of the Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD, USA) and colleagues examined 749 people who had undergone the procedure and who ranged in age from 14 to 91 years.

Although those 65 years of age and older had a 4.6% lower score on postoperative monosyllabic word recognition tests, this difference was not significant, the researchers noted, and may not be clinically detectable. Longer duration of deafness was typically tied to worse performance on word recognition tests. However, among people who had been deaf for longer than 25 years, the older implant recipients scored higher than younger patients.

This suggests, the researchers say, that variables beyond age may be involved in implant outcome, such as early language learning and residual hearing. The results were published in the December 2005 edition of the Archives of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery.

A cochlear implant is a small electronic device surgically placed under the skin behind the ear. It can help provide a sense of sound to someone who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. The device does not restore or create normal hearing, but under the right conditions it can give deaf people a useful auditory understanding of the environment around them and help them understand speech.

"A foundation of central auditory processing in the older cohort,” the study states, "may actually mitigate the disadvantage of advanced age at implantation, build on adaptive skills, and help explain the encouraging results of this study.”




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