NICE guidance
Recommendations
The final NICE guidance regarding cochlear implants was published on 28 January 2009.
For those people with severe or profound deafness who do not receive adequate benefit from acoustic hearing aids, NICE has recommended:
- Unilateral cochlear implantation as an option for adults and children
- Simultaneous bilateral cochlear implantation for children
- Simultaneous bilateral implants for adults who are blind or have other disabilities that increase their reliance on auditory stimuli as a primary sensory mechanism for spatial awareness
Richard Brook, President of Cochlear Europe said: “We welcome the NICE guidance, which will ensure that eligible patients have access to cochlear implants.
“Cochlear implants open up a new world of sound to people who otherwise would not hear. Recipients are able to increase their employment opportunities, enjoy a richer social life, children are more likely to attain age-appropriate speech and language and attend mainstream schools. Society also benefits through significant reductions in costs relating to the welfare and support that hearing impaired adults without a cochlear implant might require.”
Cochlear is providing appropriate packages and initiatives for both unilateral and bilateral implantation to support PCTs in the implementation of the NICE guidance.
