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Articles

Binaural advantages in using a cochlear implant for adults with profound unilateral hearing loss

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Pages 153-161 | Received 10 Jul 2018, Accepted 05 Oct 2018, Published online: 14 Feb 2019
 

Abstract

Background: Recent studies of cochlear implants (CIs) in profound unilateral hearing loss (UHL) patients have demonstrated a restoration of some binaural hearing.

Aims/Objectives: The objective was to evaluate three possible advantages of binaural hearing in CIs adult users with UHL including single-side deafness (SSD) and asymmetric hearing loss (AHL) subgroups.

Material and methods: A prospective study was conducted that included 70 sequentially implanted patients. Subgroups of these subjects included 64 with a postlingual onset of a profound hearing loss on the implanted side and 6 with a prelingual onset of that loss. Three binaural effects – redundancy, head shadow, and squelch – were evaluated.

Results: Significant differences between the ‘CI on’ and ‘CI off’ conditions were found for all three binaural effects for the study group as a whole and for the postlingual subgroup. However, results for the subjects in the prelingual subgroup did not demonstrate any of the binaural advantages.

Conclusion and significance: Patients with a postlingual onset of a profound hearing loss in one ear and normal hearing or only a moderate loss in the other ear are able to make the effective use of a CI in the profound-loss ear in conjunction with acoustic stimulation of the other ear.

Chinese abstract

背景:对严重单侧听力损失(UHL)患者的人工耳蜗植入(CIs)的近期研究显示, 双耳听力得到了某种程度的恢复。

目的:评估患包括单侧耳聋(SSD)和不对称听力损失(AHL)亚类的深度单侧听力损失(UHL)的成人使用人工耳蜗植入(CIs)后在双耳听力方面的三个可能益处。

材料和方法:进行了一项前瞻性研究, 包括70名顺序植入患者。受试者亚组包括64名植入侧患语后发生严重听力损失的患者, 6名患语前发生的听力损失的患者。评估了三种双耳效应 - 冗余、头影和静噪。

结果:对于研究组整体和语后亚组, 发现所有三种双耳效应在'CI 开启'和'CI 关闭'状况之间存在显着差异。然而, 在语前亚组中, 受试者的结果没有表现出任何双耳益处。

结论和意义:单耳发生语后严重听力损失且另一耳听力正常或仅中度损失的患者能够有效利用深度听力损失耳中的CI, 同时对另一耳进行声音刺激。

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Polish National Science Centre decision no. DEC-2013/09/B/ST7/04213.

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