Abstract
BackgroundBilateral cochlear implantation (BiCI) has been provided with an intent to promote binaural hearing and improve quality of life (QoL). Binaural hearing maximum benefit could be optimized with BiCI, when indicated in the early stages of life through preserving the cortical hearing development. Actually, BiCI benefits wide variables among patients, and in this work, we aimed to analyze the benefit of bilateral cochlear implantation over unilateral and the simultaneous over sequential implantation in peri- and post-lingual patients. The analysis based on common clinically used audiological tests such as aided hearing threshold and speech perception measures.ResultsThe results of the aided threshold and speech perception measures in all patients revealed a significantly better response in the bilateral implantations than in unilateral each implant separately. Overall, the best response was seen in the simultaneous bilateral group followed by sequential bilateral groups. In post-lingual patients, a better response was observed in sequential and similar bilateral than in sequential and different device groups with significant differences.Change of performance across time revealed aided threshold improvement of the from 3 to 6 months. In speech perception measures, the post-lingual group revealed significant improvement of high-context sentence test (HCST) scores from 3 to 6 months and 12 months. In the peri-lingual group, Early Speech Perception test (ESPT) revealed a change in performance with time at 3, 6, and 12 months. In addition, the simultaneous patient’s scores were significantly better than sequential similar patient’s scores.ConclusionThe main finding of our study was that bilateral cochlear implants (BiCI) are better than unilateral cochlear implant, and simultaneous BiCI is preferred than the sequential cochlear implant even after escaping the early stage of language development.
Highlights
Bilateral cochlear implantation (BiCI) has been provided with an intent to promote binaural hearing and improve quality of life (QoL)
Outcome measures suggest that these benefits of sound localization and hearing better in noisy environments, implanting the better ear aiming for maximizing success from the implant and quality of life, are present in the majority of recipients, their performance is still not at the level of normal-hearing listeners with true binaural capabilities
Aided threshold The patients were divided according to the surgery and the processor used in the study into three groups: the first was the simultaneous implantation group, the second is sequential with similar implants group, and the third was sequential with different implants group
Summary
Bilateral cochlear implantation (BiCI) has been provided with an intent to promote binaural hearing and improve quality of life (QoL). Bilateral cochlear implantation (BiCI) is considered as an accepted medical practice in clinically appropriate adults and children [1]. Among some groups, it is considered the standard of care for children with bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss [2]. Outcome measures suggest that these benefits of sound localization and hearing better in noisy environments, implanting the better ear aiming for maximizing success from the implant and quality of life, are present in the majority of recipients, their performance is still not at the level of normal-hearing listeners with true binaural capabilities.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
