To evaluate whether cochlear implantation reduces listening-related fatigue in children with unilateral hearing loss.
Prospective within-subjects data on listening fatigue in pediatric unilateral hearing loss after cochlear implantation — if fatigue reduction is confirmed, this supports expanding CI candidacy criteria for children with single-sided deafness, but wait for full published outcomes before changing referral thresholds.
Listening-related fatigue is a poorly recognized but meaningful quality-of-life burden in children with unilateral hearing loss, and objective evidence that cochlear implants address it could strengthen the case for earlier intervention.
- 01Prospective within-subjects crossover study in Otology & Neurotology — stronger design than retrospective studies.
- 02Population: children with unilateral (one-sided) hearing loss pre- and post-cochlear implantation.
- 03Primary focus is listening-related fatigue, a patient-centered outcome often overlooked in CI studies.
- 04Within-subjects design controls for individual variability but lacks an untreated control group.
- 05Published DOI: 10.1097/MAO.0000000000004933.
Cochlear implantation reduces listening-related fatigue in children with unilateral hearing loss.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42440270
- DOI
- 10.1097/MAO.0000000000004933.
- Journal
- Otology & Neurotology
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Children with unilateral hearing loss undergoing cochlear implantation
- Intervention
- Cochlear implantation for unilateral hearing loss
- Comparator
- Pre-implantation baseline (within-subjects)
Primary outcomes
Listening-related fatigue post-cochlear implantation