Factors Correlated to Listening Ability of Persons with Hearing Impairment Post-cochlear Implantation, Rajavithi Hospital

Abstract

Background: Hearing impairment is a severe health problem, especially in congenital hearing loss, and affectschildren’s speech and language development. Cochlear implantation is an alternative treatment and an excellentopportunity to hear for both children and adults. Many factors are related to hearing ability after hearing restorationfor people with all types of severe hearing loss. Objective: To study the level of hearing ability of hearing-impairedpeople with post-cochlear implantation and the factors associated with the listening ability of this group of people. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on eighty participants with post-cochlear implantation, over 18years old, with post-lingual hearing loss. All participants are selected by purposive sampling. Two instruments wereused to collect data. The personal data form and the listening ability questionnaire, which were adopted fromthe Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale, were used to collect data. A panel of experts evaluated theinstruments for content validity. The instrument reliability was 0.97. Statistical package software is used to analyzeall data to find frequency, mean and standard deviation. The statistical tests used for correlation were Correlationand Eta. Results: The listening ability of people with hearing impairment and post-cochlear implantation wasmoderated. The duration of post-cochlear implantation and receiving media on television were also factors in thehearing ability of the hearing-impaired subjects after cochlear implantation. Conclusion: Several factors are foundto be correlated with hearing impairment subjects’ post-cochlear implantation. The listening experience dependson the device length used at the time and practicing hours both in quiet rooms and routine activities to recognizespeech and listen to speech sounds. The factors have been investigated to improve Speech, Spatial, and Qualitiesto help cochlear implant users get more advantages from cochlear implantation and have better hearing in theireveryday life.