NICE have just published new guidelines on eligibility for Cochlear Implants which will significantly increase the number of children and young adults who could be eligible for an implant.
The key changes will affect children and well as adults by lowering the level at which people qualify to 80dB HL from 90dB HL and by being tested four frequencies instead of two. Otherwise for children the definition stays the same. This is a very significant change in the guidelines. This should ensure that more children and young adults who can benefit from a Cochlear Implant are able to do so and brings us more in line with European standards. The guidelines will come into force in about 3 months once they are formally implemented.
The new definition is below:
For the purposes of this guidance, severe to profound deafness is defined as hearing only sounds that are louder than 80 dB HL (pure-tone audiometric threshold equal to or greater than 80 dB HL) at 2 or more frequencies (500 Hz, 1,000 Hz, 2,000 Hz and 4,000 Hz) bilaterally without acoustic hearing aids. Adequate benefit from acoustic hearing aids is defined for this guidance as:
- for adults, a phoneme score of 50% or greater on the Arthur Boothroyd word test presented at 70 dBA
- for children, speech, language and listening skills appropriate to age, developmental stage and cognitive ability
[amended 2018]