The Psychological Well-Being of Adolescents with Cochlear Implants

It is widely assumed that after deaf children receive cochlear implants (CI) they will go on to live normal lives using audition and speaking. However, research shows more nuanced results, with some children continuing to rely on signing and experiencing difficulty communicating with peers and social isolation. Much of past research on this subject is based on surveys of the parents of these children, who may report better social functioning than their children do.

Dammeyer et al. surveyed 65 Danish adolescents with CI to determine their experiences with communication, social participation and friendships, and psychological well-being. The results showed that the group overall was not too different from their hearing peers. The rates of depression and being bullied was similar to the background rates. However, 20% reported feeling lonely often or all the time, double the rate of hearing Danish adolescents, and 10.8% reported having no friends. 55.4% reported feeling different from other children their age and 18.5% reported that they tried to hide their CIs all the time or often. 30.8% anticipated that it would be difficult for them to find a job because of their hearing loss and 26.2% reported that it would have a large impact on decisions regarding their future education.

26.2% reported very good or fluent signing skills and 41.5% expressed the desire to learn to sign better. 35.4% reported that being with hearing people drained a lot of energy, while only 6.2% reported this for being with people with hearing loss.These findings suggest that in contrast to the guidelines of the Danish Health Authority, these children are finding that being able to sign is useful for communication and social functioning. The authors opine that altering the guidelines to be more flexible and pragmatic in regards to teaching signing may be helpful for adolescents with CI.


Paywalled
Dammeyer, J., Chapman, M., & Marschark, M. (2018). Experience of hearing loss, communication, social participation, and psychological well-being among adolescents with cochlear implants. American Annals of the Deaf, 163(4), 424–439.


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