Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Mar;14 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S32-7.
doi: 10.1179/1467010013Z.00000000077.

Cochlear implants in the United Kingdom: awareness and utilization

Chris Raine  1
Affiliations

Cochlear implants in the United Kingdom: awareness and utilization

Chris Raine. Cochlear Implants Int. 2013 Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: Every child and adult in the United Kingdom who fulfils the criteria for cochlear implantation is entitled to receive treatment under the National Health Service (NHS); children since 2009 are eligible for bilateral simultaneous implants and adults single implants unless they have additional sensory needs.

History: During a period between 1982 and 1990, when a number of individual teams ran programmes using charitable funding, the British Cochlear Implant Group approached the UK Department of Health, who agreed to set up a 4-year pilot study of 10 programmes, including one children's programme. The outcomes were collected and analysed by the Medical Research Council's Institute of Hearing Research. The results, showing positive outcomes for adults and children, were published in 1995 and subsequently funding was provided directly by the NHS.

Access: Between 2001 and 2006 the Universal Newborn Hearing Screen (UNHS) was implemented in England and Wales and also in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Data from UNHS and also data from the three main cochlear implant manufacturers have allowed estimates of access to cochlear implants for children and adults within the criteria for implantation.

Children: Between 2006 and 2011 the figures show that 74% of estimated eligible children aged 0-3 years have received implants and 94% by the age of 17.

Adults: For adults the figures are considerably lower, with only about 5% of those eligible for an implant actually receiving one. The reasons for this include, to a lesser degree, the fact that guidelines by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) are stricter than in some other European countries, but chiefly because of lack of awareness among candidates and professionals, both of criteria for eligibility and of the potential advantages from cochlear implantation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
MRC IHR cumulative and annual data of cochlear implantation in children and adults (courtesy Prof. A Q Summerfield).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Estimate of the number of children (0–3 years) in England and Wales with severe to profound hearing loss and registered as having had CI performed.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Estimate of the number of children (0–16 years) in England and Wales with severe to profound hearing loss and registered as having had CI performed.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Surgical registration data by years for CI performed in the UK.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cooper H.R., Carpenter L., Aleksy W., Booth C.L., Read T.E., Graham J.M., et al. 1989. UCH/RNID single channel extracochlear implant: results in thirty profoundly deafened adults. The Journal of Laryngology and Otology Supplement, 18: 22–38 - PubMed
    1. Davis A. 1995. Hearing in adults: the prevalence and distribution of hearing impairment and reported hearing disability in the MRC Institute of Hearing Research's National Study of Hearing. London: Whurr Publishers
    1. Davis A., Bamford J., Steven J. 2001. Performance of neonatal and infant hearing screens: sensitivity and specificity. British Journal of Audiology, 35(1): 3–15 - PubMed
    1. Davis A.C. 1989. The prevalence of hearing impairment and reported hearing disability among adults in Great Britain. International Journal of Epidemiology, 18(4): 911–917 - PubMed
    1. Fortnum H.M., Summerfield A.Q., Marshall D.H., Davis A.C., Bamford J.M. 2001. Prevalence of permanent childhood hearing impairment in the United Kingdom and implications for universal neonatal hearing screening: questionnaire based ascertainment study. BMJ, 323(7312): 536–540 - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources