Rates of Long‐term Cochlear Implant Use in Children

Abstract

Objectives: Determine the rate of long-term cochlear implant (CI) use in children. Methods: Consecutive case series in a tertiary referral center. Approximately 474 patients younger than 18 years who received their first cochlear implantation from 1999 to 2011. Main outcome measures: Regular CI use, defined as using the CI for 8 hours or greater per day. Results: We successfully contacted and obtained follow-up data on 402 patients (85%) via email, telephone, and postal survey. The rate of regular CI use was 93.2% (95% CI, 90.0-95.4) at 5 years’ postimplantation and 87.7% (95% CI, 82.9-91.3) at 10 years’ postimplantation. The mean number of hours of use per day was 12.0 hours (SD, 4.1 hours). Cox proportional hazard regression analysis demonstrated a linear association between the age at implantation and the risk of discontinuing regular CI use. Rates of CI discontinuation increased by 18.2% per year of age at implantation (95% confidence interval, 7.2%-30.4%). Reported reasons for CI use less than 8 hours per day include poor hearing benefit (53.2%), social pressure (21.3%), and recurrent displacement of the transmitter coil (17.0%). Conclusions: High rates of regular CI use are sustained after childhood implantation, and younger age at implantation is associated with a higher rate of continued device usage.