Depressive symptoms affect short- and long-term speech recognition outcome in cochlear implant users

PURPOSE: To investigate the impact of the amount of depressive symptoms in cochlear implant (CI) recipients on the development of speech recognition after CI-activation up to 2 years. DESIGN: Retrospective data analysis of a German short form of the Beck Depression Inventory given at initial activation of the implant in relation to monosyllabic word recognition score at conversational level at initial activation and at 3 months, 1 and 2-year follow-up measurements. STUDY SAMPLE: Thirty-one CI-patients (11 female, 20 male) aged between 41 and 83 (M = 64.77, SD = 10.43) who were German native speakers, postlingually deafened, with severe hearing loss in both sides but unilaterally implanted (19 right-sided, 12 left-sided). RESULTS: The amount of depressive symptoms at initial activation was negatively correlated with the monosyllabic recognition score after 3 months and after 1 year of implant use. CONCLUSION: The psychological status in terms of depressive symptoms is an important parameter regarding the rehabilitative outcome of CI-patients. Care staff and CI-users should be sensitized to the link between depressive symptoms and the development of speech recognition with CI.