Adults
•
18 years of age or older.
Severe-to-profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss
•
or severe-to-profound unilateral hearing loss.
Post-lingual onset of severe or profound hearing loss.
•
•
Limited benefit from appropriately fitted hearing aids,
defined as scoring 50% or less on a test of open-set
sentence recognition (HINT Sentences).
Children
•
12 months through 17 years of age.
Severe-to-profound bilateral sensorineural deafness or
•
severe-to-profound unilateral hearing loss.
Use of appropriately fitted hearing aids for at least
•
6 months in children 2 through 17 years of age, or at
least 3 months in children 12 through 23 months
of age. The minimum duration of hearing aid use
is waived if x-rays indicate ossification of the cochlea.
•
Little or no benefit from appropriately fitted hearing
aids. In younger children (< 4 years of age), lack of
benefit is defined as a failure to reach developmentally
appropriate auditory milestones (such as spontaneous
response to name in quiet or to environmental sounds)
measured using the Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory
Integration Scale or Meaningful Auditory Integration
Scale or ≤ 20% correct on a simple open-set word
recognition test (Multisyllabic Lexical Neighborhood
Test) administered using monitored live voice
(70 dB SPL). In older children (≥ 4 years of age),
9