Ear, nose, and throat
Cochlear implants for severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears
7 August 2026
Published on 29 Mar 2018
Last Updated on 7 Aug 2026
Guidance Recommendation
The Ministry of Health’s Medical Technology Advisory Committee has recommended:
Subsidy covers unilateral cochlear implant (UCI) for adults
Subsidy covers bilateral cochlear implant (BCI) in children
For the management of adults and children (less than 18 years old) with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears who have:
Either: A Pure Tone Average (PTA) hearing threshold, defined as four-frequency PTA (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) tested in the unaided condition indicating severe-to- profound hearing loss without acoustic hearing aids (HA), OR: Demonstrate severe or greater functional hearing disability in the best aided condition (postlingual patients: poor speech discrimination using validated speech recognition measures; prelingual patients: inability to acquire clear speech or other age-appropriate measures)
AND
Undergone a hearing aid trial (unless contraindicated or inappropriate) demonstrating inadequate benefit from appropriately fitted hearing aids
Parental support in the form of motivation and commitment to rehabilitation for children, and individually motivated and committed to rehabilitation for adults.
BCI should be provided to the eligible child as early as clinically suitable. For staged BCI, the second cochlear implant (CI) in the contralateral ear should be provided only if the clinician judges that the first CI is not providing sufficient benefit, and that the patient will benefit sufficiently from a second CI, which should be implanted as soon as clinically suitable.
Children (less than 18 years old) with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears who are using CI system can be eligible for subsidy for the replacement of cochlear implant sound processor, which includes replacement with or without upgrade, where an upgrade refers to a change to a later model than currently used by the individual, if all of the following criteria are met:
The child is deemed by the attending healthcare professional to be receiving sufficient benefits from the CI, and demonstrating continued need for CI; AND
The existing CI sound processor has been used for at least 5 years, and its deterioration in performance is deemed by the attending healthcare professional to warrant replacement for achieving optimal hearing.
Funding status
CI is recommended for inclusion on the MOH Implant Subsidy List (ISL). Listed models are recommended for subsidy when used in line with the abovementioned recommendations.
Subsidies will not apply to devices and accessories that are not included in the standard or replacement packages of CI devices, including replacement of, or upgrades to, internal implants.