PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGE OVER 54 MONTHS OF COCHLEAR IMPLANT USE

Objective: To determine the long-term psychological outcome of postlin gually deafened adults who received multichannel cochlear implants and to relate the psychological outcome to audiological outcome. Design: Thirty-seven recipients of multichannel cochlear implants who particip ated in a prospective clinical trial completed psychological assessmen ts before implantation and at regularly scheduled follow-ups through 5 4 mo of implant use. Standardized measures of affect, social function, and personality were used, and scores on these measures were correlat ed with asymptotic scores on several audiological measures. Results: E vidence of significant improvement on measures of loneliness, social a nxiety, and distress mere obtained within a year after implantation an d throughout the duration of the follow-up period. For measures of ass ertiveness and marital satisfaction, improvement was apparent only aft er longterm implant use. Although favorable changes on the Minnesota M ultiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Depression Scale were evidence d only in the initial follow-up period, improvements on the MMPI Paran oia and Social Introversion Scales persisted throughout the 54 mo foll ow-up. Conclusion: Multichannel cochlear implant use is associated wit h long-term psychological benefit. Correlations between audiological o utcome and psychological outcome, however, suggested that the relation bet pc een audiological benefit and psychological benefit is not simp le.