Application of Patient Reported Outcome Measures in Cochlear Implant Patients: Implications for the Design of Specific Rehabilitation Programs

Abstract

Introduction: Cochlear implants (CI) have been developed to enable satisfying verbal communication, while music perception has remained in the background in both the research and technological development, thus making CI users dissatisfied by the experience of listening to music. Indications for clinicians to test and train music abilities are at a preliminary stage compared to the existing and well-established hearing and speech rehabilitation programs. The main aim of the present study was to test the utility of the application of two different patient reporting outcome (PRO) measures in a group of CI users. A secondary objective was to identify items capable of driving the indication and design specific music rehabilitation programs for CI patients. Materials and Methods: A consecutive series of 73 CI patients referred to the Audiology Unit, University of Padova, was enrolled from November 2021 to May 2022 and evaluated with the audiological battery test and PRO measures: Musica e Qualità della Vita (MUSQUAV) and Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire (NCIQ) Italian version. Results: The reliability analysis showed good consistency between the different PRO measures (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.873). After accounting for the epidemiological and clinical variables, the PRO measures showed a correlation with audiological outcomes in only one case (rho = −0.304; adj. p = 0.039) for NCIQ-T with the CI-pure tone average. A willingness for musical rehabilitation was present in 63% of patients (Rehab Factor, mean value of 0.791 ± 0.675). Conclusions: We support the role of the application of MUSQUAV and NCIQ to improve the clinical and audiological evaluation of CI patients. Moreover, we proposed a derivative item, called the rehab factor, which could be used in clinical practice and future studies to clarify the indication and priority of specific music rehabilitation programs.

Effects of Musical Training in Music Therapy Following Cochlear Implantation—A Case Report

“…Elderly individuals often decline a second bilateral implant due to potential side effects from additional surgery. Research aligns with the trend of this case report, showing that two cochlear implants (Cis) helped to enhance subjective satisfaction with hearing ability and actively making music but also improved music perception in general and the health-related quality of life when the results of the SSQ-B are considered [13,26]. While uncertainty exists about the long-term impact of music training on speech perception while listening to music [25], the CI user of this study had a better audiometric threshold, the health-related quality of life as well as music perception improved, and actively participating in challenging tasks as playing instruments and singing was possible.…”

Piezoelectric Bone Conduction Hearing Implant: A Case Series of Audiological, Surgical and Patient-Reported Outcomes

“…Both objective and subjective evaluations are utilized to measure the effectiveness of these rehabilitation methods. Notably, subjective evaluations have been shown to correlate with improvements in the quality of life, as indicated by Frosolini et al [ 23 ] in their observational study on patient-reported outcome measures in cochlear implant patients.…”

The Efficacy of Wireless Auditory Training in Unilateral Hearing Loss Rehabilitation

“…The expected effect size was informed by previous data and expert consultation [23], representing the minimum clinically significant difference we aimed to detect between the intervention and control groups. The standard deviation was based on historical data from similar patient populations [24]. Utilizing these parameters, we employed the standard formula for comparing two means in a two-sided test, accounting for equal variance and sample size in both groups.…”