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Scientific Oral Presentations

Pediatric Otolaryngology

Session: Scientific Oral Presentation 3 - Pediatric Otolaryngology

Fatigue in Children with Unilateral Hearing Loss: Impact of Cochlear implantation

Sunday, October 12, 2025
9:54 AM - 10:00 AM EDT
Location: 233-234
Disclosure(s):
Sarah E. Hughes, BA:

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

Samantha Anne, MD:

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

Introduction: Fatigue from listening and processing in noise-rich environments has been shown to occur in children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL). Cochlear implantation (CI) restores binaural hearing in children with UHL, improving audiological and QoL outcomes. This study evaluates whether CI alleviates fatigue associated with UHL.

Methods: Patients were recruited from 3 tertiary care academic centers.  The Vanderbilt Fatigue Scale (VFS) was administered to children (VFS-C) and parents/caregivers (VFS-P) after 3-days of full time CI use and after a 3-day CI discontinuation during a holiday break. VFS-C (score range: 0–40) classified scores above 27 as 1 SD above the normative mean. VFS-P assessed mental fatigue (score range: 0–28) and physical fatigue (score range: 0–12) with scores above 13 and 15 considered 1 SD above normative values, respectively.

Results: Seventeen children aged 5–17 years with UHL who underwent CI participated. The mean age was 8.8 years (29.4% male, mean deafness duration of 3.6 years). VFS-P mental fatigue scores increased significantly during CI non-use, from 9.8 to 13.6 (p = 0.025). VPS-P physical fatigue scores increased from 8.5 to 11.1 (p = 0.053). VFS-C scores showed higher fatigue after CI discontinuation but did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.20) After CI discontinuation, 53%, 29%, and 24% of patients scored 1 SD above the normative mean on VFS-P mental, VFS-P physical, and VFS-C, respectively.

Conclusions: Overall, a significant portion of pediatric UHL patients, 24-53% of the cohort, had scores indicative of fatigue on versions of VFS-C and VFS-P when not using the CI. Parental assessments indicate that CI significantly reduces mental fatigue in children with UHL.

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Sarah E. Hughes, BA

    Medical Student
    University of Michigan Medical School
    Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

    Disclosure(s):

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

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Benjamin I. Wajsberg, MD

    PGY3
    Head and Neck Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
    Cleveland, OH, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Emily Z. Stucken, MD

    Associate Professor
    University of Michigan
    Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • Gabrielle S. Watson, AuD

    Audiologist II
    Iowa Health Care Cochlear Implant Clinical Research Center
    Iowa City, IA, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

    • Senior Author(s)

  • SA

    Samantha Anne, MD

    Medical Director, Pediatric Ear and Hearing Disorders; Professor, Pediatric Otolaryngology
    Cleveland Clinic Foundation
    Chagrin Falls, OH, United States

    Disclosure(s):

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