Performance differences between electroacoustic and electric alone cochlear stimulation using complex tests in noise. A pilot study

Abstract

Objectives: Hybrid cochlear implants enable very interesting performances in bisyllabic words recognition, mainly in noisy conditions. In this paper, we studied patients with implants performing some very difficult timbric tasks in quiet and noisy conditions.Methods: We studied three adult patients with hybrid implants (group A-hybrid implants) and three adult patients with traditional ones (group B-traditional implants). We made the following tests (in quiet and noise): bisyllabic words recognition; voice kind recognition; common melodies identification and recognition; musical instrument identification and recognition.Results: Mean results in quiet: test 1: 35% A, 47% B; test 2: 92% A, 42% B; test 3: identification scores 88% A, 100% B, recognition scores: 37.5% A, 50% B; test 4 identification scores 50% A, 20% B, recognition scores 30% A, 20% B. As for tests in noise: test 1: 28% A, 46% B; test 2: 75% A, 25% B; test 3: identification 81% A, 87.5% B and recognition 56% A, 50% B; test 4: identification 60% A, 30% B and recognition 50% A, 20% B.Conclusion: Patients with hybrid implants seem to have better results, mainly in noisy timbric tasks. This could be explained by the better quality of low frequency stimulation and could be an encouragement for further studies and a larger diffusion of this kind of implant in the future.