Objective: Cochlear implant (CI) is a well-established treatment for adults with sensorineural hearing loss and without benefit from hearing aids. The Italian guidelines date back 15 years; given the expansion of indications for CI, including single side deafness and asymmetrical hearing loss, it became necessary to establish updated guidelines.

Methods: Thirteen experts and 2 patient representatives selected the key questions and drew up recommendations. The document was developed following GRADE methodology. The methodological team of the Mario Negri Pharmacological Research Institute performed systematic reviews for each question and supported the overall process.

Results: Five key questions were identified and recommendations formulated, with subgroups and considerations on implementation.

Conclusions: Though the systematic research of scientific literature found a scarcity of randomised trials and an overall poor conduct and reporting quality of primary studies and systematic reviews, strong or conditional recommendations in favour of CI have been formulated for different subgroups of patients. Further studies should enrol a larger number of participants and use consistent instruments to evaluate hearing outcomes, in order to increase the comparability of results and data pooling with meta-analysis.

Keywords: adult patients; clinical practice recommendation; cochlear implant; guidelines; hearing loss.

Copyright © 2025 Società Italiana di Otorinolaringoiatria e Chirurgia Cervico-Facciale, Rome, Italy.