2019 Volume 62 Issue 2 Pages 150-156
Seventeen patients who had received adult cochlear implantation were divided into an elderly group, consisting of patients over 65 years of age, and the youth group, consisting of patients younger than 65 years of age. In these patients, we investigated the results of the egograms obtained at Tokyo University before and after the operation. The subjects were further divided into two groups according to the duration of hearing loss: less than two years or two or more years. After the operation, the tendency for “other-centered, self-repressive, self-denial” decreased in all the patients, including in the elderly group. In the youth group, an increase was observed in the “free, active, self-affirmative” tendency. The results suggest a tendency towards becoming more independent in the elderly and towards becoming more active in the younger subjects as a result of improved hearing of sounds following the cochlear implantation. In regard to the effect depending on the duration of hearing loss, the decrease in the “other-centered, self-repressive, self-denial” after the operation was more marked in the group of patients with hearing loss for two or more years. We assumed that the self-repressive condition was relieved as the subjects could hear sounds and became more active. Then, we considered that cochlear implantation could be effective for reducing the tendency towards self-denial in the elderly and in patients who have been deaf for many years.
