Objective: To develop a comprehensive cochlear implant questionnaire (CCIQ) as a tool for assessing changes in quality of life (QoL) after receiving a second cochlear implant (CI2) and to correlate the QoL with speech perception changes after CI2.
Study design: Retrospective case series with planned data collection.
Setting: Academic cochlear implant center.
Patients: Ninety-eight English-speaking adults who received CI2 between 2000 and 2011.
Intervention: CCIQ is a 28-item, 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire that assesses the physical and psychosocial benefits of CI2.
Main outcome measures: Test-retest reliability and Cronbach's alpha internal consistency were used to assess the reliability of the CCIQ. Speech perception was tested using CNC and HINT.
Results: Fifty-four patients completed the CCIQ, and 26 were retested. Respondents reported a subjective improvement in all domains. Test-retest reliability was satisfactory, with 64% of items achieving an intraclass correlation coefficient of greater than 0.6. Internal consistency reliability was excellent for the overall measure and was satisfactory for 6 of 9 subdomains. Speech perception data were available for 22 patients. Average CNC scores improved 13 ± 16%, and HINT scores improved 42 ± 16%. No statistically significant correlation was found between QoL scores and audiometric data or duration of CI2 use.
Conclusion: Our preliminary data indicate that this CCIQ is a promising tool in assessing QoL specific to CI2 patients. Overall, patients reported improved QoL, independent of speech perception scores. Further refinements of the questionnaire with larger patient numbers are needed to strengthen the CCIQ.