CI: Experiences and hopes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Experiences and hopes of cochlear implantation among early deafened adults and their families
IRAS ID
271439
Contact name
Suzanne J O'Gara
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 7 months, 27 days
Research summary
Research Summary
This study aims to look at the hopes and experiences of an early deafened deaf adult and their family. In the context of this study early deafened means deafened before language acquisition. Early deafened adults have been historically less likely to receive a cochlear implant (CI) or have evidence of good outcomes in the literature compared to adults who are deafened after language acquisition. This will provide information that will be used to counsel and support patients undergoing CI assessment.
Participants in the study will be over 18 years old and been born with a hearing loss or acquired their hearing loss before the age of 6 years. There will be two groups of participants
Group 1 - Patients going through the CI assessment process and their family members
Group 2 - Patients who have a CI and their family members
Looking at patients who have had a CI and then patients who are going through the initial tuning process will give two different insights. It will allow the patients and family members experience of a CI to be followed in relation to their performance with the CI. Patients and family members who have had their CI will be able to look back retrospectively and consider what information would have been useful for them during the process after a period of time to adapt to the cochlear implant.
Participants will be recruited through the University of Southampton Auditory Implant Service using a variety of methods. Group 1 will be interviewed 3 times over a 6-8 month period, Group 2 will be interviewed a maximum of 2 times over the course of a month. This will either be face to face or skype (this may be with a British Sign Language interpreter present).Summary of Results
A cochlear implant is an implanted electronic hearing aid. This study investigated the experiences and hopes of adults, who were born or developed their hearing loss before the age of six, of a cochleae implant. This study identified that early deafened adults and their families hoped the Cochlear Implant users would improve their communication and that the cochlear implant resulted in more benefits related to environmental sounds and improved confidence. They also shared that they gained improvements in more areas than they thought they would. Family members also shared their experiences of the cochlear implant assessment process and the support they provided to their cochlear implant family member. The participants recruited to the study all used spoken English, no sign language users were recruited.
REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/EM/0020
Date of REC Opinion
8 Jan 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion