Predictors of postoperative performance with cochlear implants.

One objective of the Department of Veterans Affairs study: A Prospective Randomized Study of Advanced Cochlear Implants was to attempt to identify preoperative patient characteristics that might predict postoperative performance. We studied the relationship between all preoperative factors and the 2-year postoperative performance on 24 audiological tests for 82 patients who were implanted with the Ineraid, Nucleus, or 3M/Vienna device. Results of the univariate analysis indicated that computed tomographic findings of the cochlea and round window, IQ, age at implantation, length of deafness, profound deafness, and lipreading ability weakly correlated to postoperative performance. The multivariate analysis showed age at time of implantation, IQ, and lipreading ability to be predictive of postoperative performance.