Impact of Duration of Deafness on Speech Perception in Single-Sided Deafness Cochlear Implantation in Adults

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the impact of prolonged auditory deprivation on speech perception outcomes in adult acquired single-sided deafness (SSD) cochlear implant (CI) recipients.

Study design: Retrospective case series.

Setting: Tertiary care academic center.

Patients: Acquired SSD in adults with and without prolonged duration of deafness (defined as >10 yr) who underwent CI between 2014 and 2019.

Interventions: CI.

Main outcome measures: Consonant-nucleus-consonant (CNC) and AzBio in quiet scores within first year of follow-up.

Results: A total of 35 adult patients with SSD were evaluated, with a median overall duration of deafness of 2.4 years (interquartile range [IQR] 1.2-6.0 yr): seven patients with prolonged auditory deprivation (median 18 yr, IQR 15-28) were compared with 28 SSD patients with duration of deafness less than 10 years (median 1.7 yr, IQR 1.1-3.2). At last follow-up, the median CNC scores were 39% (IQR 31-64) and 54% (IQR 46-64) for the prolonged and shorter duration of deafness cohorts, respectively (p = 0.3). The median AzBio scores were 66% (IQR 65-68) and 72% (IQR 60-82) for the prolonged and shorter duration of deafness cohorts, respectively (p = 0.6). In a separate analysis evaluating duration of deafness as a continuous variable across all 35 patients, Spearman correlation coefficients for associations of duration of deafness with most recent CNC and AzBio scores were -0.02 (p = 0.9) and 0.02 (p = 0.9), respectively.

Conclusions: Adult CI recipients with acquired SSD, with and without prolonged auditory deprivation, demonstrated comparable speech perception scores. Prolonged duration of deafness alone should not preclude a motivated SSD patient from undergoing cochlear implantation.