Utility of bilateral acoustic hearing in combination with electrical stimulation provided by the cochlear implant
Plant, Kerrie
Utility of bilateral acoustic hearing in combination with electrical stimulation provided by the cochlear implant
Objective: The aim of the study was to quantify the benefit provided by having access to amplified acoustic hearing in the implanted ear for
use in combination with contralateral acoustic hearing and the electrical stimulation provided by the cochlear implant. Design: Measures of
spatial and non-spatial hearing abilities were obtained to compare performance obtained with different configurations of acoustic hearing in
combination with electrical stimulation. In the combined listening condition participants had access to bilateral acoustic hearing whereas
the bimodal condition used acoustic hearing contralateral to the implanted ear only. Experience was provided with each of the listening
conditions using a repeated-measures A-B-B-A experimental design. Study sample: Sixteen post-linguistically hearing-impaired adults
participated in the study. Results: Group mean benefit was obtained with use of the combined mode on measures of speech recognition in
coincident speech in noise, localization ability, subjective ratings of real-world benefit, and musical sound quality ratings. Conclusions:
Access to bilateral acoustic hearing after cochlear implantation provides significant benefit on a range of functional measures.
Cochlear implant; hybrid; acoustic hearing
Utility of bilateral acoustic hearing in combination with electrical stimulation provided by the cochlear implant
Objective: The aim of the study was to quantify the benefit provided by having access to amplified acoustic hearing in the implanted ear for
use in combination with contralateral acoustic hearing and the electrical stimulation provided by the cochlear implant. Design: Measures of
spatial and non-spatial hearing abilities were obtained to compare performance obtained with different configurations of acoustic hearing in
combination with electrical stimulation. In the combined listening condition participants had access to bilateral acoustic hearing whereas
the bimodal condition used acoustic hearing contralateral to the implanted ear only. Experience was provided with each of the listening
conditions using a repeated-measures A-B-B-A experimental design. Study sample: Sixteen post-linguistically hearing-impaired adults
participated in the study. Results: Group mean benefit was obtained with use of the combined mode on measures of speech recognition in
coincident speech in noise, localization ability, subjective ratings of real-world benefit, and musical sound quality ratings. Conclusions:
Access to bilateral acoustic hearing after cochlear implantation provides significant benefit on a range of functional measures.
Cochlear implant; hybrid; acoustic hearing