Abstract
The purpose of the study is to gauge the benefits of binaural integration effects (redundancy and squelch) due to preserved low-frequency residual hearing in the implanted ear of cochlear implant users with single-sided deafness. There were 11 cochlear implant users (age 18–61 years old) who had preserved low-frequency hearing in the implanted ear; they had a normal hearing or mild hearing loss in the contralateral ear. Patients were tested with monosyllabic words, under different spatial locations of speech and noise and with the cochlear implant activated and deactivated, in two listening configurations—one in which low frequencies in the implanted ear were masked and another in which they were unmasked. We also investigated how cochlear implant benefit due to binaural integration depended on unaided sound localization ability. Patients benefited from the binaural integration effects of redundancy and squelch only in the unmasked condition. Pearson correlations between binaural integration effects and unaided sound localization error showed significance only for squelch (r = −0.67; p = 0.02). Hearing preservation after cochlear implantation has considerable benefits because the preserved low-frequency hearing in the implanted ear contributes to binaural integration, presumably through the preserved temporal fine structure.
Highlights
In cochlear implant (CI) users the advantage of binaural hearing over the monaural hearing has been extensively studied in terms of improvement in localization and speech discrimination over the monaural condition [1,2,3,4,5]
In patients with unilateral hearing loss (UHL), the CI arrangement is different from the traditional bimodal one because patients with UHL have much more hearing in the non-implanted ear and this can have a significant impact on binaural benefits [1]
We were able to explore the value of preserved LF hearing in the implanted ear planted ear for binaural integration effects of redundancy and squelch, assuming that all forbinaural binauralcues integration effects of redundancy and squelch, assuming all binaural cues are available from the normal hearing (NH) ear
Summary
In cochlear implant (CI) users the advantage of binaural hearing over the monaural hearing has been extensively studied in terms of improvement in localization and speech discrimination over the monaural condition [1,2,3,4,5]. Binaural benefits have usually been investigated under three binaural CI arrangements—bilateral, bimodal, and unilateral hearing loss. Two CIs are implanted, providing individuals who have severe-to-profound hearing loss with binaural auditory input. Where residual hearing permits, a hearing aid is fitted to the non-implanted ear. In patients with unilateral hearing loss (UHL), the CI arrangement is different from the traditional bimodal one because patients with UHL have much more hearing in the non-implanted ear and this can have a significant impact on binaural benefits [1]. Two UHL populations have been defined—the first are patients with asymmetric hearing loss (AHL) who have profound hearing loss in one ear and mild-to-severe hearing loss in the other (according to the International Bureau for Audiophonology—BIAP classification); the second are patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) whose second ear has normal or close to normal hearing (NH) [6]
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