Results in Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients With Varied Asymmetric Hearing: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Speech Recognition, Localization, and Participant Report.
Jill B Firszt, Ruth M Reeder, Laura K Holden and 1 others
PMID 29373326WHAT IT FOUND
Adults with one deaf ear and usable hearing in the other showed better speech recognition and sound localization when using a cochlear implant with their hearing aid, compared to either device alone.
Most benefits appeared within six months.
Key findings
01Bimodal use (CI and hearing aid) significantly improved speech recognition in noise and quiet compared to using either the CI or the hearing aid alone.
02Participants localized sound significantly better in the bimodal condition than with either ear alone, though performance remained poorer than normal hearing.
03Most improvements in speech and localization occurred within the first six months, with little further gain at twelve months.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
No control group; outcomes are pre- vs post-implant within the same participants. Localization and some speech tests were not completed at 12 months for all participants, limiting long-term data. Standard clinical speech tests showed ceiling effects for some participants, potentially underestimating bimodal benefits. Participants had varied degrees of hearing in the better ear, which influenced outcomes.
Declared interests
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H., Extramural). No other conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume bimodal performance matches normal hearing. While localization improved significantly, the mean error of 32 degrees remained far worse than the 3.4 degrees typical for normal hearing individuals, and the implanted ear alone did not significantly improve localization compared to chance.