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Scientific Oral Presentations

Otology/Neurotology

Session: Scientific Oral Presentation 1 - Otology/Neurotology

Intersection of Quality of Speech and Quality of Life in Cochlear Implant Users

Saturday, October 11, 2025
10:06 AM - 10:12 AM EDT
Location: 239
Disclosure(s):
Isaac L. Alter, AB:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Anil K. Lalwani, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Introduction: Cochlear implants (CIs) increase quality of life (QOL) in individuals with hearing loss (HL) Interestingly, objective speech perception is a poor predictor of QOL; thus, we investigate if patient’s perception of speech quality is related to improved QOL in CI users.

Methods: 15 adult CI users with single-sided deafness (SSD) were recruited in a cross sectional study over 6 months from a tertiary academic center and completed an online survey that included (1) the Columbia Speech Quality Instrument (CSQI), (2) the Cochlear Implant Quality of Life – 35 (CIQOL-35) questionnaires, and (3) 10-point Likert scales assessing speech enjoyment and understanding. QOL scores were tabulated in total and broken into six domains: communication, emotion, entertainment, environment, listening effort, and social.

Results: There was no significant association between CSQI scores and QOL scores. However, there was a significant correlation between participants’ ratings of enjoyment of speech (Mean=7.8, SD=2.1) and global QOL (Mean=53.8 SD= 7.57) (β = 1.90, p=0.0419) as well as QOL for the the entertainment (β = 6.47, p=0.0137) and environment (β = 4.62, p=0.00507) domains. An association of overall enjoyment with the communication domain approached significance (β = 2.48, p=0.0500). In contrast, there was no correlation between self-rated understanding of speech (Mean= 7.0 SD= 2.0) and global QOL.

Conclusions: Objective measurements of speech quality are not predictive of QOL for SSD CI users. However, patients' subjective ratings of speech quality are an indicator of overall QOL as well as QOL in entertainment and environment and possibly communication domains. This suggests that catering CI treatment to optimize implantees’ subjective experience of speech quality may increase QOL.

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Nandita V. Vegesna, BS

    Medical Student
    Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center
    New York City, NY, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

    • Co-Author(s)

  • IA

    Isaac L. Alter, AB

    Medical Student
    Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons
    New York, NY, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

  • SK

    Scott Kelly, BS

    Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • MD

    Meghan Despotidis, AuD

    Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • MK

    Megan Kuhlmey, AuD

    Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • RS

    Rhea Shah, BS

    Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • JR

    Jordan Rubenstein, BA

    Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • TH

    Tiffany P. Hwa, MD

    Assistant Professor
    Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Pennsylvania Health System
    Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • Anil K. Lalwani, MD

    Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Associate Dean for Student Research, Columbia VP&S
    Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center
    New York, NY, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Senior Author(s)

  • Anil K. Lalwani, MD

    Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Associate Dean for Student Research, Columbia VP&S
    Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center
    New York, NY, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.