Abstract
Objectives To evaluate sound localization ability in totally deaf patients with unilateral cochlear implants and to estimate the ability to improve this function by training.Design A controlled case series.Materials and methods Nine patients with monaural cochlear implants were asked to identify the source of 50 randomly distributed sound stimuli coming from five different directions anteriorly or laterally. After some training, patients were retested. There were two control groups. One comprised nine adults with normal hearing, and the other comprised nine adults with normal hearing but one ear plugged.Results The mean initial score of the study group (maximal score 100) was 41.5 (range 23-63). Patients who had used cochlear implants longer had better sound localization ability (Spearman's correlation coefficient = 0.92). On retesting, after an average of 6.3 training sessions, their mean score improved to 66 (range 32-95), (p=0.008). The improvement was more pronounced in postlinguals than in prelinguals (p=0.016).Conclusions Spontaneous development of sound localization ability in totally deaf patients with unilateral cochlear implants is proprtional to the time interbal between implantation and initial testing. Improvement appears to be influenced by training, and to be greater in postlingual than prelingual implantees.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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 callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
