Influence of family environment on the outcomes of cochlear implantation in pediatric recipients

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether family environment and demographic factors such as family income and education produce any significant difference in postoperative performance of cochlear implant (CI)patients. METHODS: In this study, 49 participants who received cochlear implant devices at King Abdullah Ear Specialist Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia before the age 5 years were included. Data were collected between July 2019 and August 2019. Postoperative performance was assessed by speech intelligibility rating (SIR) and categories of auditory performance (CAP) scales. Family environment was assessed with family environment scale (FES) survey. Data of demography, average income, and maternal and paternal education were obtained through review of patient’s medical files. The data obtained were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Mac, version 23 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA). RESULTS: A significant difference between the organization categories of FES (p<0.05) was observed in terms of postoperative CAP scores, while a significant effect of the expressiveness category on both postoperative CAP and SIR scores (p<0.05) was observed. The scores on both CAP and SIR scales were significantly affected by maternal education, and the scores on SIR scale were positively correlated with paternal education. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that post-procedural performance of auditory perception and speech intelligibility in CI patients is significantly related to the family environment as well as the education levels of the parents.