Objective:

The aim of this study was to identify if cochlear implant (CI) users are perceiving a decrease in life quality due to voice problems. This study evaluated 43 CI user’s perception of their voice and how it affects their quality of life through a survey.

Approach:

Forty-three CI users responded to a survey regarding their demographics, details about their CI, the Hearing Health Quick Test (HHQT), the Voice Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL), and the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10). The survey responses were analyzed using univariate linear regression analysis.

Results:

Few of the CI users scored below the cut off for normal voice related quality of life. CI users averaged 93.4 out of 100 on the V-RQOL and only four scored abnormally for the VHI-10. Lower scores on the V-RQOL were correlated with the participants having an associate degree and with participants visiting friends, family, and neighbors less often due to hearing loss. The VHI-10 scores were correlated with gender, education levels, difficulty in social situations due to hearing loss, noise exposure, and tinnitus.

Limitations of the study:

The small n was the primary limitation of this study.

Originality:

This study was one of the first to examine the voice-related quality of life in CI users.

Conclusions:

Overall, respondents did not perceive much voice-related difficulty. However, they were more likely to perceive voice-related difficulty if they experienced difficulty hearing in noise and avoided social situations due to hearing loss.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Inglés     · Inglés ( pdf )