Implant ślimakowy z perspektywy osób dorosłych z głuchotą postlingwalną – badanie jakościowe

Introduction: Cochlear implantation is a very effective treatment method in cases of deafness acquired postlingually, i.e., after gaining the language system. Aim: This study aims to identify the motivation for having a cochlear implant (CI) and the positive and negative aspects of that electronic hearing device from the perspective of its adult users, who have lost hearing postlingually. Material and methods: The study involved postlingually deaf adults with one or two CI’s. Participants received questionnaires by post. The response rate was 39%, which means that 90 persons responded (including 49 women and 41 men), aged 24 to 80 years ( M = 57.5; SD = 12.8). Study participants responded (retrospectively) to three questions included in the questionnaire concerning their reasoning for cochlear implantation and the positive and negative sides of that device. Responses underwent qualitative analysis using the Content Analysis method. Results: It came out, concerning the motivation of the CI decision, that most replies referred to „loss of hearing” (15%), „wanting to hear” (15%), and „social sphere” (14%) that encompasses relationships and communication with others in everyday life, in family and social life. Among the positive sides of CI, most often indicated was the ability to „receive sounds from the environment and hearing speech” (25%), then „understanding speech and communicating” (16%), and being able to participate in social relationships (15%). There were also many replies referring to the improvement of the quality of life (10%) and psychological functioning (10%). Nearly three-fourths of study participants could see no negative sides of CI (71.5%); others most frequently point out technical and organization limitations (23%), medical (8%), and limits of auditory perception, that is, difficulties with understanding speech and communicating in noise and difficult listening conditions (8%). Conclusions: The results confirm the importance of cochlear implant(s) in the lives of postlingually deaf CI users, especially in terms of the auditory perception of speech and environmental sounds, communication with other people, and social relationships. However, it should be noted that in the group of people who lost hearing after having acquired speech and language, there are significant differences in perception of positive and negative sides of a cochlear implant and motivations underlying the decision about having cochlear implantation.