Association of Area Deprivation Index With Cochlear Implant Candidacy and Outcomes

To investigate whether neighborhood-level sociodemographic deprivation, measured by the Area Deprivation Index (ADI), is associated with speech recognition and hearing-related quality of life (QoL) prior to and following cochlear implant (CI) surgery.

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Audiologists and cochlear implant teams should screen for neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage as a potential barrier to candidacy referral and a predictor of poorer post-implant speech outcomes, and consider targeted support or follow-up for patients from high-deprivation areas.

Demonstrating that structural socioeconomic inequality influences cochlear implant access and outcomes highlights a systemic equity gap that the audiology field must address in referral pathways, counseling, and post-implantation support.

1. 01Area Deprivation Index (ADI), a neighborhood-level measure of socioeconomic disadvantage, was linked to cochlear implant candidacy rates.
2. 02Higher neighborhood deprivation was associated with differences in speech recognition outcomes after cochlear implantation.
3. 03Hearing-related quality of life was also examined as an outcome alongside audiological performance.
4. 04Findings suggest socioeconomic disparities extend beyond access to technology into functional and quality-of-life benefits.
5. 05Published in The Laryngoscope (DOI: 10.1002/lary.70804), a peer-reviewed otolaryngology journal.

PMID

42669646

DOI

10.1002/lary.70804.

Journal

The Laryngoscope

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

2b

Population

Patients evaluated for cochlear implant candidacy, including implant recipients with post-operative outcome data

Intervention

Area Deprivation Index (neighborhood-level sociodemographic deprivation score)

Comparator

Patients from lower-deprivation neighborhoods