Cochlear implant information on the Internet Mark Boston a,b, * , Elizabeth Ruwe b , Lisa Hilbert c , Daniel Choo a,b , John Greinwald a,b a Center for Hearing and Deafness Research, Department of Otolaryngology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, MLC 2018, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA b Department of Otolaryngology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, USA c Department of Audiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, USA Abstract. Introduction: A survey was distributed to parents of children with cochlear implants to determine if parents used the Internet to look for cochlear implant information and how this information may have influenced their preoperative decisions. A detailed search of bcochlear implantQ Web sites was performed to determine the quality and readability of cochlear implant information. Results: Over 80% of parents completing the survey used the Internet to look for cochlear implant-related information. Most parents found the Internet-based information to be helpful and most stated the information was influential in their decision to get a cochlear implant for their child. Cochlear implant information on the Internet was predominately at or above a twelfth grade reading level and was often incomplete. Conclusions: Most parents used the Internet to look for cochlear implant information although the same parents ranked the cochlear implant team as their primary source of information. There is an abundance of cochlear implant information on the Internet although the readability and completeness of this information is unsatisfactory. D 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V. Keywords: Cochlear implant; Internet 1. Introduction The Internet is the fastest growing source of health-related information in the world. A recent Pew Internet and American Life Project survey found that an estimated 93 million American adults have searched the Internet for health care information [1]. The survey 0531-5131/ D 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.ics.2004.08.085 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 513 636 4355; fax: +1 513 636 8133. E-mail address: mark.boston@cchmc.org (M. Boston). International Congress Series 1273 (2004) 413 – 416 www.ics-elsevier.com