Current paper describes an experience of cochlear implantation in elderly. Cochlear implantation has become a widely accepted intervention in the treatment of individuals with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. Cochlear implants are now accepted as a standard of care to optimize hearing and subsequent speech development in children and adults with deafness. But cochlear implantation affects not only hearing abilities, speech perception and speech production; it also has an outstanding impact on the social life, activities and self-esteem of each patient. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cochlear implantation efficacy in elderly with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss. There were 5 patients under our observation. Surgery was performed according to traditional posterior tympanotomy and cochleostomy for cochlear implant electrode insertion for all observed patients. The study was conducted in two stages: before speech processor’s activation and 3 months later. Pure tone free field audiometry was performed to each patient to assess the efficiency of cochlear implantation in dynamics. The aim of the study was also to evaluate quality of life in elderly with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss after unilateral cochlear implantation. Each patient underwent questioning with 36 Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). SF-36 is a set of generic, coherent, and easily administered quality-of-life measures. The SF-36 consists of eight scaled scores, which are the weighted sums of the questions in their section. Each scale is directly transformed into a 0-100 scale on the assumption that each question carries equal weight. The eight sections are: physical functioning; physical role functioning; emotional role functioning; vitality; emotional well-being; social role functioning; bodily pain; general health perceptions. Our results demonstrate that cochlear implantation in elderly consistently improved quality of life and enhance the efficiency of audiologic rehabilitation.

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The aim of this study was to improve the accuracy and sensitivity of methods for ventilation tube patency evaluation after timpanostomy. New method of one-dimensional ultrasound middle ear sonography was developed. We studied ventilation tubes patency in 40 patients with otitis media with effusion, after timpanostomy. All patients tympanometry and one-dimensional ultrasound sonography was obtained at 4, 7th and one month after surgery. After timpanostomy in children with the otitis media with effusion, at 4 days after the surgery one-dimensional ultrasound sonography detected normal function of ventilation tubes in 75% patients. At the same time, according to tympanometry ventilation tube patency was recorded in 80% patients. On 7th  day after surgery one-dimensional ultrasound sonography detected normal function of ventilation tubes in 85% patients. According to tympanometry the 90% patients demonstrated normal ventilation tube function. One month after surgery one-dimensional ultrasound sonography detected normal function of ventilation tubes in 92.5% patients. At the same time, according to tympa nometry ventilation tube patency was recorded in 95% people. Calculation of ultrasound sonography sensitivity and specificity showed that the sensitivity of this process is 97.4%, specificity – 100%. The statistical significance of differences in ventilation tube patency assessment is not determined. Thus, we have proved one-dimensional ultrasound sonography the sensitive method for ventilation tubes patency validation. The method is simple, requires a bit of time for application, so it can be widely recommended for outpatient network.