Auditory results from cochlear implants in elderly people

According to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the elderly population grew 47.8% in the last decade in Brazil. A portion of this population has severe and/or profound hearing loss and do not benefit from conventional hearing aids. Thus, the use of cochlear implant is required.AimTo analyze the benefits of cochlear implants in the elderly based on the comparison of primary auditory thresholds before and after the operation, discrimination of sentences in speech and in talking on the telephone.MethodologyRetrospective cohort study, analyzing medical records from patients aged over 60 years, users of cochlear implant for at least 1 year.ResultsFourteen medical records were analyzed. Mean age of patients was 63.07 years. The mean pure tone thresholds between 500Hz, 1kHz, 2kHz and 4kHz before the implantation was 113dBHL. None of the patients, before operation, could discriminate sentences in open sets and only 3 scored 17% in closed sets sentence recognition. After one year of implantation, the mean sound field thresholds reached 34dBHL, and open set sentences recognition of 93.57%, while 71% of the patients had become able to have a conversation on the telephone.ConclusionThe elderly users of cochlear implant showed important outcomes, with significant improvement in understanding in the open set and in using the telephone.