Background: Cochlear implantation (CI) is the method of choice for treating severe and profound hearing loss in children.
Objective: To obtain and evaluate the quality of life of children after cochlear implantation and to compare the results with those of a normal‑hearing (NH) control group.
Methods: Cross-sectional, observational design in a university-based ambulatory paediatric otolaryngology clinic. Participants included 40 subjects (21 parents of children after CI, 11 children after CI, 21 parents of normal‑hearing children and 23 normal‑hearing children). The children were between 3 and 17 years of age. Those participants who could not be contacted by telephone, did not provide all of the data in the database, did not answer the questionnaires completely or had an explantation of the cochlear implant in their anamnesis were excluded. A questionnaire aimed at the generic quality of life was sent to all participants, including children with implants and their parents, as well as normal‑hearing children and their parents. The statistical analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS program.
Results: The questionnaires were anonymous. The only statistically significant differences within the subscales were seen in the group of parents of children aged 7-13 years. The parents of children with implants scored significantly higher in the 'Family' domain than the parents of the normal‑hearing children (p = .003), suggesting that from the parental point of view, the situation at home is considered better in families of a child with an implant, as the family is a safe place for them, and the implant is considered a normal component of their life.
Conclusion: The total quality of life score did not significantly differ between the group with cochlear implants and the normal‑hearing group. Therefore, the analysis demonstrates that the hearing quality does not seem to negatively influence the quality of life in children with cochlear implants (Tab. 5, Fig. 2, Ref. 9). Text in PDF www.elis.sk Keywords: cochlear implantation in children, quality of life, KINDLR, SSQ12, Slovakia.