A comparison of stroop test performance of individuals who use cochlear implant, unilateral or bilateral hearing aid

The aim of the study is to evaluate the frontal lobe processes such as the selective attention ability and the data processing speeds of children and adults who are between the ages of 9-60 who use cochlear implant, who use hearing aids and who have normal hearing and in Stroop test; and to investigate whether there is any difference between the groups. Another aim of the study is to assess the effect of age of cochlear implantation on selective attention skills. The research is a cross-sectional analytical study. It was carried out in the Otorhinolaryngology Department of Ege University Hospital. The research involved a total of 62 children and adults between 9 and 60 years of age. Among these children and adults, 22 used cochlear implants, 20 used hearing aids and 20 had normal hearing. The criteria that were considered while creating the study group were the absence of visual impairment, the absence of any neurological or psychiatric diagnoses, and the absence of any medication that would disrupt the cognitive processes. The research was carried out between July 2017 and January 2018 after the permission of Ethical Committee was granted. The TBAG form of the Stroop test was applied to the children and adults participated in the study who used cochlear implants, hearing aids and had normal hearing. The duration of completion of the tasks in the five sections of this form, the errors, and the error correction scores of those who participated in the study were compared. According to Stroop test TBAG form, there was a difference between the groups in terms of duration of completion of the tasks in five sections between the cochlear implant, hearing aids and normal hearing group in the study. It was observed that the difference group was the normal hearing group. But there was no difference between the groups in terms of error scores. In our study, it was observed that the group of before 6 year old implants had a shorter duration of completing their tasks in five parts than the group of after 6 year old implants. As a result, selective attention skills of individuals using cochlear implants and hearing aids differ from those of normal hearing individuals. It is known that auditory impoverishment has an adverse effect on all social development skills as well as individual development skills. Therefore, the group with cochlear implants and hearing aids has been found to have a poorer attentiveness than the normal hearing peers. These findings are expected to contribute to the regular assessment of social-adaptive behavior skills of hearing-loss children with the findings from the study of selective attention skills and the inclusion of work to improve attention skills in cochlear-implanted and hearing impaired individuals. Key Words: Cochlear Implant; Hearing Aid; StroopTest; Frontal Lobe