Restricted Speech Recognition in Noise and Quality of Life of Hearing-Impaired Children and Adolescents With Cochlear Implants – Need for Studies Addressing This Topic With Valid Pediatric Quality of Life Instruments

Cochlear implants (CI) support the development of oral language in hearing-impaired children. However, even with CI, speech recognition in noise (SRiN) is limited. This raised the question, whether these restrictions are related to the quality of life (QoL) of children and adolescents with CI and how SRiN and QoL are related to each other. As a result of a systematic literature research only three studies were found, indicating positive moderating effects between SRiN and QoL of young CI users. Thirty studies addressed the quality of life of children and adolescents with CI. Following the criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO) for pediatric health related quality of life HRQoL (1994) only a minority used validated child centered and age appropriate QoL instruments. Moreover, despite the consensus that usually children and adolescents are the most prominent informants of their own QoL (parent-reports complement the information of the children) only a minority of investigators used self-reports. Restricted SRiN may be a burden for the QoL of children and adolescents with CI. Up to now the CI community does not seem to have focused on a possible impairment of QoL in young CI users. Further studies addressing this topic are urgently needed, which is also relevant for parents, clinicians, therapists, teachers, and policy makers. Additionally investigators should use valid pediatric QoL instruments. Most of the young CI users are able to inform about their quality of life themselves.