title: Assessment of the psychosocial impacts of cochlear implants on adult recipients and their partners.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In the present study we sought to evaluate the psychosocial and quality of life (QOL) impacts of cochlear implant (CI) treatment on both CI recipients and their partners in a Canadian population.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative cross-sectional contemporary cohort evaluation was conducted by distributing specifically designed questionnaires to both CI recipients and their partners at their follow-up appointments over a month at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was found that both CI recipients and their partners demonstrated substantial benefit and improvement in multiple psychosocial domains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Musical listening was found to show variable improvements between recipients. Further analysis found a simple correlation where the group of recipients who all had a hearing disability for a longer duration had demonstrated a higher proportion of improvement in musical listening. CI recipients endorsed having improved QOL which was in agreement with proxy observation by partners.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, CI use has been shown to have significant benefit to psychosocial well-being of CI recipients. This benefit is also conferred to their caregivers/partners; which in our society concerned about caregiver burden is quite important to recognize.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery , Sunnybrook Cochlear Implant Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, FRCSC - University of Toronto , Canada.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery , Sunnybrook Cochlear Implant Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, FRCSC - University of Toronto , Canada.
authors.forename: Babak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karamy
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery , Sunnybrook Cochlear Implant Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, FRCSC - University of Toronto , Canada.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shipp
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery , Sunnybrook Cochlear Implant Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, FRCSC - University of Toronto , Canada.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nedzelski
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery , Sunnybrook Cochlear Implant Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, FRCSC - University of Toronto , Canada.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery , Sunnybrook Cochlear Implant Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, FRCSC - University of Toronto , Canada.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000523:psychology; D003054:Cochlear Implants / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music / Q000523:psychology; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D011184:Postoperative Period; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Caregiver burden; Cochlear implant; Music; Partners; Quality of life