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
. 2022 Sep 27;12(5):518-526.
doi: 10.3390/audiolres12050052.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Quality of Life in Adult Cochlear Implant Users: A Survey Study

Giada Cavallaro  1 , Alessandra Murri  1 , Emer Nelson  1 , Rosaria Gorrasi  1 , Nicola Quaranta  1
Affiliations

The Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Quality of Life in Adult Cochlear Implant Users: A Survey Study

Giada Cavallaro et al. Audiol Res. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly spread through Europe in the first months of 2020. On the 9th of March 2020, the Italian government ordered a national lock-down. The study's objectives were: to investigate the effect of lockdown on CI users; and to detect the difference in the perception of discomfort existing between unilateral cochlear implant (UCI) users and bilateral cochlear implant (BCI) users, due to the lockdown experience.

Methods: A 17-item, web-based, anonymous online survey was administered to 57 CI users, exploring hearing performance, emotions, practical issues, behavior, and tinnitus. Participation in the study was voluntary.

Results: all CI users obtained an abnormal score in all questionnaire themes. For the emotion theme and the practical issue theme, the age range 61-90 showed a significant difference between UCI and BCI users in favor of BCI users (emotion theme: UCI mean = 3.9, BCI mean = 2.3, p = 0.0138; practical issues: UCI mean = 4, BCI mean = 3, p = 0.0031).

Conclusions: CI users experienced the lockdown negatively as regards behavior, emotions, hearing performance, and in practical issues. CI subjects with UCI in old age suffered more from the experience of lockdown than subjects with BCI in the same age, with regards to emotions and practical issues.

Keywords: cochlear implant; lockdown; quality of life.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Onder G., Rezza G., Brusaferro S. Case-fatality rate and characteristics of patients dying in relation to COVID-19 in Italy. JAMA. 2020;323:1775–1776. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.4683. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Santacroce L., Bottalico L., Charitos I.A. The impact of COVID-19 on Italy: A lesson for the future. Int. J. Occup. Environ. Med. 2020;11:151. doi: 10.34172/ijoem.2020.1984. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Masks. [(accessed on 6 July 2022)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/coronavirus-dis....
    1. Trecca E.M.C., Gelardi M., Cassano M. COVID-19 and hearing difficulties. Am. J. Otolaryngol. 2020;41:102496. doi: 10.1016/j.amjoto.2020.102496. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dell’Aringa A.H., Adachi E.S., Dell’Aringa A.R. Lip reading role in the hearing aid fitting process. Rev. Bras. De Otorrinolaringol. 2007;73:95–99. doi: 10.1016/s1808-8694(15)31129-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources