Connected couples, connected minds: Do cochlear implants improve collaboration, cognition, and emotional health in older adult couples?

The aim of this project is to conduct a Feasibility Trial to investigate benefits of cochlear implants for collaboration, cognition and emotional health in older adult couples. This project is significant in focusing on couples as cognitive systems, recognising both the protective scaffolding benefits that long-married partners offer each other and how hearing loss undermines these benefits. Expected outcomes include evidence of feasibility to support a larger clinical trial, and evidence of the benefits to collaboration, cognition and emotional health offered by hearing treatment. We explore these benefits for otherwise healthy couples affected by hearing loss as well as for couples where at least one member has mild cognitive impairment.