Quality of Life, Self-Esteem, and Social Integration in Cochlear Implant Recipients: A Cross-Sectional Study from a Tertiary Center in Romania.

Background and Objectives: Outcomes after cochlear implantation are usually judged using audiological measures, although recipients' everyday benefit also depends on psychological and social functioning. This study characterized post-implant quality of life (QoL) across six patient-reported domains in cochlear implant recipients followed at a tertiary center in Romania and explored factors associated with social integration. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 50 consecutive cochlear implant recipients (24 children and adolescents, 26 adults) completed a validated 35-item Romanian-language questionnaire covering speech perception, psychological self-esteem, media and music, environmental sound, listening effort, and social integration, with parent-proxy completion for the youngest children. Domain scores were transformed to a 0-100 scale. Subgroup comparisons used rank-based tests, and associations with social integration were examined with Spearman correlations and an exploratory multivariable regression. Results: The median overall QoL score was 67.1 (interquartile range, 53.6-77.9). Media and music scored highest (median 85.7) and listening effort lowest (median 56.2); psychological self-esteem had a median of 66.7 (interquartile range, 50.0-79.2). QoL scores did not differ significantly by sex, age group, time since implantation, surgical approach, or SMART NAV use, although several subgroup analyses were underpowered. Psychological self-esteem showed the strongest correlation with social integration (rho = 0.56, p < 0.001) and was the only predictor with p < 0.05 in the exploratory multivariable model (B = 0.456, 95% CI, 0.117-0.795; p = 0.010; R2 = 0.428). Conclusions: In this cohort, post-implant QoL varied across functional domains, with listening effort remaining a relative challenge. Social integration was more closely associated with psychological self-esteem than with individual auditory domains. These findings are exploratory and require confirmation in larger longitudinal studies with pre-implant measurements.