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Article Type

Article

Subject Area

Pediatrics

Abstract

Objective The current study was intended to detect the challenges facing cochlear implantation (CI) and rehabilitation during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and to investigate the influence of the application of the required hygiene measures on the success of CI rehabilitation during coronavirus situations. Patients and methods The present research included 151 patients had CI in the Hearing and Speech Institute in the year of 2020. A total of 116 cases (22 adults and 94 children) have been implanted from August 2020 to December 2020. Of the 94 children (45 males and 49 females), 26 neonates with significant sensorineural hearing loss either due to congenital nonlethal disorders or acquired due to prematurity and prolonged incubator care were included. Intensive preoperative assessment and counseling program were done, which were then followed through the perioperative period with up to 12 months of intensive rehabilitation postoperatively. Results Overall, 50% of parents commented regarding the challenges faced by the parents during programming or mapping that they never had problems, 15.9% had problems to a great extent, 15.9% to a moderate extent, and 18.2% to a less extent. With respect to the use of hygienic measures, 34.1% of parents reported that they were excellently used, 29.3% commented it was very good, and 34.1% commented it was good. Overall, 43.2% of the parents agreed that they did not affect the progress of the children, whereas 27.3% of the parents agreed that the face masks were challenging for the children, 18.2% of the parents thought social distancing affected the progress, and the least percentage of parents (11.4%) thought face shields affected their progress. The quality of the therapy sessions also was noted, where 25% reported the quality of sessions was excellent, 38.6% reported the quality of sessions was very good, 31.8% was good, and 4.6% was poor. Conclusion This study observed that the COVID-19 pandemic had constituted a significant challenge for both CI children and their parents. They faced challenges in accessing the hearing health care services and facilities of auditory and language rehabilitation. These rehabilitation modifications must be followed until the candidate COVID-19 vaccine is made available for all the public.

Keywords

Cochlear implant, coronavirus disease 2019, rehabilitation

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