INTRODUCTION: Our aim was to assess the effect of cochlear implant (CI) surgery on the mental quality of life in totally deaf adults using a generic type of questionnaire. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The survey comprised 40 adult CI users who answered a standard and a retrospective version of the Short Form 36 questionnaire (SF-36). In the questionnaires, specific questions focused on four dimensions of the mental quality of life: vitality, social functioning, and emotional and mental health. RESULTS: Due to qualitative and quantitative deficiencies, the emotional scale was omitted. A statistically significant improvement in the quality of life (p<05) was demonstrated in the three remaining subscales between pre-implant and post-implant scores. The greatest improvement was observed in the social functioning subscale. Pre-implant mean scores on all three subscales of the SF-36 were markedly below the mean scores of the equivalent subscales of the Danish population, whereas the post-implant mean scores in two out of three cases were above the mean scores of the Danish population. DISCUSSION: CI was shown to have a statistically significant positive impact on the quality of life of adult deaf patients. This is in accordance with other published studies.
INTRODUCTION: Our aim was to assess the effect of cochlear implant (CI) surgery on the mental quality of life in totally deaf adults using a generic type of questionnaire. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The survey comprised 40 adult CI users who answered a standard and a retrospective version of the Short Form 36 questionnaire (SF-36). In the questionnaires, specific questions focused on four dimensions of the mental quality of life: vitality, social functioning, and emotional and mental health. RESULTS: Due to qualitative and quantitative deficiencies, the emotional scale was omitted. A statistically significant improvement in the quality of life (p<05) was demonstrated in the three remaining subscales between pre-implant and post-implant scores. The greatest improvement was observed in the social functioning subscale. Pre-implant mean scores on all three subscales of the SF-36 were markedly below the mean scores of the equivalent subscales of the Danish population, whereas the post-implant mean scores in two out of three cases were above the mean scores of the Danish population. DISCUSSION: CI was shown to have a statistically significant positive impact on the quality of life of adult deaf patients. This is in accordance with other published studies.