Cochlear Implants: Exploring the hopes, reflections and experiences of early deafened adults and their families

Abstract

Cochlear implantation is widely available to adults with a severe to profound hearing loss. Research has shown that early deafened adults have an uncertain outcome with cochlear implantation. Some recipients show no improvement on speech perception measures but do show improvements in quality of life measures. Knowing the pre-implantation expectations and post-implantation experiences will aid with the management of expectations and help with the
provision of greater tailored support throughout their implant journey. Knowing what early deafened adults and their families want with regards to their expectations of an implant would allow families to be more informed and ready to adjust to the changes a cochlear implant can bring. This work aims to identify what the expectations of the recipient of a cochlear implant and their family members are and how the family experience and manage the effects of a cochlear
implant on the family member’s hearing.

This study was split into 3 phases due to the need for two exploratory phases before the main qualitative phase could commence. Phase 1 involved interviewing sign language interpreters to understand their views on working with interpreters in a research setting. This resulted in guidelines on how to work with British sign language interpreters in a research setting. Phase 2 was a patient and public involvement and engagement study, with a sign language user, to ensure
relevancy of the research question. The Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies changed the focus of this thesis, they changed the study title and resulted in the inclusion of family members when the focus had been purely on cochlear implant recipients.

Phase 3 involved interviewing early deafened adults and their family members about their hopes and experiences. This Phase identified that they hoped to improve their communication and that the cochlear implant resulted in more benefits related to environmental sounds and improved confidence. They also shared that they gained improvements in more areas than they thought
they would. Family members also shared their experiences of the process and the support they provided to their cochlear implant family member. The participants recruited to the study all used spoken English, no BSL users were recruited. This has enabled the perspective from the aural early deafened adult group to be explored. Aural early deafened adults may be put into the same category as BSL users or post- lingually deafened adults. Their voice has the potential to be lost or
not considered at all as they could be excluded from each group due to their communication mode and onset of deafness.

More information

Identifiers

Catalogue record

Export record