Influence of age at revision cochlear implantation on speech perception outcomes.

IMPORTANCE: This study reviewed whether advanced age should be a consideration when revision cochlear implantation is warranted.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether age at revision cochlear implantation is related to postrevision speech perception performance.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A retrospective analysis was performed in an academic tertiary care center. Participants included 14 younger adults (<65 years) and 15 older adults (≥65 years) who underwent revision cochlear implantation.

INTERVENTION: Revision cochlear implantation.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Speech perception performance, as measured with consonant-nucleus-consonant [CNC] words in quiet, at the best prerevision interval as well as the 3- and 6-month postrevision intervals were compared between the 2 cohorts. The CNC word test consists of 10 lists of 50 phonemically balanced monosyllabic words, scored with a range of 0% to 100% correct.

RESULTS: Both cohorts experienced a restoration in speech perception scores after revision cochlear implantation compared with their best performance before the revision (mean [SD] CNC word test scores for the younger cohort: 43.9% [25.6%] before revision and 47.7% [21.3%] at 3 months and 47.6% [19.8%] at 6 months after revision; for the older cohort: 36.3% [19.1%] before revision and 35.3% [17.2%] at 3 months and 39.9% [16.3%] at 6 months after revision; F₂,₅₄= 0.93; P = .40). There was no interaction between age at revision surgery and speech perception performance at each assessment interval (F₂,₅₄= 0.51; P = .60).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this study, age at revision cochlear implantation was not related to postrevision speech perception performance. Advanced age should not be considered a contraindication to revision cochlear implantation.