Speech Perception Outcomes in Children With Single-Sided Deafness Receiving Unilateral Cochlear Implantation Compared to Bimodal Device Users.
Hanne Bartels, Melissa J Polonenko, Jaina Negandhi and 4 others
PMID 41128525WHAT IT FOUND
Children with one normal-hearing ear and one deaf ear benefited from a cochlear implant, but less than those with hearing loss in both ears.
The implant helped most in noise, where the advantage of having one normal ear disappeared. Ongoing implant use improved outcomes over time.
Key findings
01Speech perception in the implanted ear was similar across all groups in quiet, but the benefit of adding the implant to the hearing aid was smallest in children with single-sided deafness.
02The advantage of having normal hearing in one ear over the other disappeared in noise, with no significant difference in bilateral benefit between children with single-sided deafness and those with mild hearing loss in the aided ear.
03Longer duration of cochlear implant use and shorter periods of auditory deprivation before implantation were associated with better bilateral hearing outcomes in quiet.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Data were collected retrospectively from clinical charts with variable testing methods and timepoints. Not all children completed all listening conditions at every session. Daily device use and specific hearing aid or implant programming settings were not analyzed. The groups differed significantly in etiology, with congenital cytomegalovirus being much more common in the single-sided deafness group.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest or funding sources were reported in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that children with single-sided deafness will experience the same magnitude of benefit from cochlear implantation as children with bilateral hearing loss. The study found that the bilateral benefit in quiet was nearly zero for children with single-sided deafness, and their primary gain comes in noise conditions where the normal ear's advantage diminishes.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →