cochlear implant candidacy
Who is a cochlear implant candidate?
To be eligible for a cochlear implant, you must have:
- Hearing loss that is so severe it interrupts spoken communication
- Limited benefit from hearing aids as determined by specialized hearing tests
- No medical conditions or factors that increase the risks associated with cochlear implants
- High motivation to participate in rehabilitation sessions and to be part of the hearing world
- Clear understanding of what cochlear implants can and cannot do for hearing
Adults
- Individuals 18 years of age or older
- Moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears
- Limited benefit from amplification defined by preoperative test scores of ≤ 50% sentence recognition in the ear to be implanted and ≤60% in the opposite ear or binaurally
Children (2-17 Years)
- Severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears
- Limited benefit from binaural amplification
- Multisyllabic Lexical Neighborhood Test (MLNT) or Lexical Neighborhood Test (LNT) scores ≤ 30%
Children (12-24 Months)
- Profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears
- Limited benefit from binaural amplification
