Age Barriers Soften for Cochlear Implants

At both ends of the age spectrum, the market for cochlear implantation is expanding.

For children, the Food and Drug Administration has lowered the age limit to one year -- it was two years in 1980 -- on the strength of studies showing early implantation aids in the development of oral communication. Richard Miyamoto, president-elect of the American Academy of Otolaryngology, has implanted kids as young as 6 months old in clinical studies.

"Right now a significant portion of people receiving [cochlear implants] are children who are born deaf," he said. These children, he added, have been shown to be "pretty much age-equivalent" in their speech and language with their peers. "They hear and you'd hardly know they're deaf."

The age range is also expanding at the other end. Sixty-five used to be the cutoff, but in recent years groups such as the Hearing Loss Association of America have fought to raise that limit. They often encounter what the association's executive director, Terry Portis, calls "some attitude" from providers and third-party payers about the value of implanting older individuals.

"We actually ran across that attitude in the federal bureaucracy," he said. "Like, 'What does a 72-year-old man really need a cochlear implant for?' " Older people sometimes raise the question themselves, he added. "I've lived my life and my hearing's gone," Portis said they tell him, "so I'm just content to be by myself.'"

But many studies suggest cochlear implants provide meaningful improvement in the quality of life of older individuals. A recent study in the journal Ear and Hearing showed big improvements in "communication, feelings of being a burden, isolation and relations to friends and family." There was also a "reduction in the degree of depression and anxiety."

"It's the quality of life, it's independence, it's the ability to talk to your daughter and understand what they're saying," said Portis. "Talking to your children and your grandchildren. Life is not over because you're 72 years old."

--Ranit Mishori