Hearing Aid In Nonimplanted Ear Research Articles

Performance of cochlear implant patients while using bimodal stimulation and FM system

Objectives: To study the effectiveness of bimodal stimulation coupled to FM system on the speech discrimination in noise, temporal discrimination and temporal resolution in patients with unilateral cochlear implant.Method: A total number of 28 subjects were examined in this study, they were divided into group I (19 subjects) with pre-lingual hearing loss and group II (9 subjects) with post-lingual hearing loss. Both groups had a residual hearing in the non-implanted ear that permits benefit from amplification. Full history taking, Questionnaire, Aided warble tone response, Arabic monosyllabic word test in quiet and in presence of background noise, Pitch discrimination test, Pitch pattern sequence test and Auditory fusion test-subtest 3.Results: There is significant statistical difference in CI patients' performance in most of tests while using bimodal stimulation with FM system coupled to CI than with bimodal stimulation alone or CI alone condition.Conclusions: It is recommended to use hearing aid in non-implanted ear in order to improve speech discrimination in noise, temporal discrimination and temporal resolution abilities.

Early Speech Perception Test Outcome in Children with Severe Sensorineural Hearing Loss with Unilateral Cochlear Implants Alone versus Bimodal Stimulation.

Bilateral stimulation of the auditory system has clear advantages over unilateral hearing. Hearing-impaired children are, therefore, generally fitted with hearing aids in both ears so that they can have the benefits of binaural hearing. Children who use acochlear implant in one ear and no acoustic stimulation in the opposite ear are at a definite disadvantage. This study was undertaken to determine the advantages of bimodal stimulation in pediatric population especially in terms of speech recognition. This study comprised of 30 children between 3 and 6years of age with profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss with cochlear implant in one ear and fitted with digital hearing aid in non-implanted ear. Speech recognition performance was compared in unilateral cochlear implant only and with bimodal hearing stimulation in the same set of children. A statistically significant difference was found between speech reception scores in children with a unilateral cochlear implant only and those with a cochlear implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the non implanted ear in quiet surroundings. It is suggested that the use of bimodal fitting be considered as an effective management method to obtain the advantage of binaural hearing in children who undergo unilateral cochlear implantation.

Sound localization performance in children with cochlear implants using bimodal stimulation

Introduction: There are clear benefits of having bilateral inputs to the auditory nervous system. Hearing-impaired children are, therefore, generally fitted with two hearing aids so that they can benefit from hearing binaurally. Children who use a cochlear implant in one ear and no amplification in the opposite ear are, however, deprived of these advantages. The current study was undertaken to determine the benefits of bimodal stimulation in pediatric population. Methods and Materials: This study comprised of 20 children between 6-11 years of age with profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss with cochlear implant in one ear and fitted with digital hearing aid in non-implanted ear. Mean sound localization score was compared in children with cochlear implant only and those with both cochlear implant and hearing aid. Result: A statistically significant difference was found between mean sound localization in both test condition under quiet surrounding. Conclusion: Hence it is suggested that the use of bimodal fitting can be considered as an effective management option in order to obtain binaural hearing benefits in children who undergo unilateral cochlear implantation.

Recognition and Localization of Speech by Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients Wearing a Digital Hearing Aid in the Nonimplanted Ear (Bimodal Hearing)

The use of bilateral amplification is now common clinical practice for hearing aid users but not for cochlear implant recipients. In the past, most cochlear implant recipients were implanted in one ear and wore only a monaural cochlear implant processor. There has been recent interest in benefits arising from bilateral stimulation that may be present for cochlear implant recipients. One option for bilateral stimulation is the use of a cochlear implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the opposite nonimplanted ear (bimodal hearing). This study evaluated the effect of wearing a cochlear implant in one ear and a digital hearing aid in the opposite ear on speech recognition and localization. A repeated-measures correlational study was completed. Nineteen adult Cochlear Nucleus 24 implant recipients participated in the study. The participants were fit with a Widex Senso Vita 38 hearing aid to achieve maximum audibility and comfort within their dynamic range. Soundfield thresholds, loudness growth, speech recognition, localization, and subjective questionnaires were obtained six-eight weeks after the hearing aid fitting. Testing was completed in three conditions: hearing aid only, cochlear implant only, and cochlear implant and hearing aid (bimodal). All tests were repeated four weeks after the first test session. Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. Significant effects were further examined using pairwise comparison of means or in the case of continuous moderators, regression analyses. The speech-recognition and localization tasks were unique, in that a speech stimulus presented from a variety of roaming azimuths (140 degree loudspeaker array) was used. Performance in the bimodal condition was significantly better for speech recognition and localization compared to the cochlear implant-only and hearing aid-only conditions. Performance was also different between these conditions when the location (i.e., side of the loudspeaker array that presented the word) was analyzed. In the bimodal condition, the speech-recognition and localization tasks were equal regardless of which side of the loudspeaker array presented the word, while performance was significantly poorer for the monaural conditions (hearing aid only and cochlear implant only) when the words were presented on the side with no stimulation. Binaural loudness summation of 1-3 dB was seen in soundfield thresholds and loudness growth in the bimodal condition. Measures of the audibility of sound with the hearing aid, including unaided thresholds, soundfield thresholds, and the Speech Intelligibility Index, were significant moderators of speech recognition and localization. Based on the questionnaire responses, participants showed a strong preference for bimodal stimulation. These findings suggest that a well-fit digital hearing aid worn in conjunction with a cochlear implant is beneficial to speech recognition and localization. The dynamic test procedures used in this study illustrate the importance of bilateral hearing for locating, identifying, and switching attention between multiple speakers. It is recommended that unilateral cochlear implant recipients, with measurable unaided hearing thresholds, be fit with a hearing aid.