Objective: To assess the effect of the use of cochlear implants (CI) on thehealth status of postlingually deaf adults.

Methods: Participantscomprised 45 postlingually deaf adult multichannel CI users and 46deaf candidates on the waiting list for a CI. The latter group actedas control subjects to corroborate the validity of retrospective completionof the questionnaires by the CI recipients. Three HRQOL instrumentswere used: a) a specially developed CI questionnaire (NCIQ); b) ageneric HRQOL questionnaire (SF-36); and c) a health-stateclassification system (HUI-2) suited to estimate single preferencescores.

Results: Retrospectively estimated pre-implant scores in theCI user group corresponded very well with the scores in the controlgroup. Postimplant scores in the CI users were substantially higherin all six domains (p < .001) of the NCIQ than the scores in thecontrol group. Effects due to a CI were also observed with the SF-36 infive of the seven domains (p < .01). Statistically significantdifferences between the two groups (p = .001) were observed in twoof the six domains of the HUI-2.

Conclusions: All threequestionnaires detected improvements in HRQOL due to CI use. To makea detailed assessment of the effect of a CI on functional outcomesand well-being, a special purpose HRQOL instrument is far moreadequate than a general HRQOL instrument. This study also showed thata CI affects several other health domains besides auditoryperformance. The effect of CI use on general functioning and well-being proved to be considerable.