Abstract
Abstract Aim: The aim is to evaluate the advantages of the dedicated Adaptive Phonak Digital Bimodal (APDB) fitting formula compared to the traditional National Acoustic Laboratories Non-Linear 2 (NAL-NL2) for contralateral hearing aid (HA) in bimodal cochlear implant (CI) users. Settings and Design: Cross-over bicentric study involving 10 adult bimodal Advanced Bionics CI users with usable contralateral hearing. Subjects and Methods: Participants were provided with a dedicated Naída Link Q90 HA. Speech recognition in noise was assessed with the Italian Matrix Sentence Test. The competing noise was presented at a fixed level of 55 dB HL. The speech level was changed adaptively to calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) targeting at a score of 50% correct words. Outcomes were compared in three configurations, with CI only, with APDB and with NAL-NL2. Subjective hearing benefit was assessed using the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) questionnaire in both bimodal configurations. Results: Speech intelligibility in noise showed significantly better results for both bimodal configurations (P < 0.001) compared to CI only (mean 9.1 dB SNR ± 5.7) and for the APDB formula (mean 2.25 dB SNR ± 2.4) compared to NAL-NL2 (mean 3.3 dB SNR ± 2.7; P < 0.05). Responses to the SSQ demonstrated a trend for improvement with APDB compared to NAL2/NAL in the “space” subgroup and a statistically significant difference in favor of APDB for “other sound qualities” (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The APDB fitting formula has been shown to be beneficial for binaural bimodal CI users, both in speech intelligibility test results and subjective perception of hearing comfort.
Published Version
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