Cochlear Implantation in Cases of Asymmetric Hearing Loss: Subjective Benefit, Word Recognition, and Spatial Hearing

• DOI: 10.1177/2331216520945524
• Publication Date: 2020-08-18T12:54:26Z
• Authors: Margaret T. Dillon; Emily Buss; Meredith A. Rooth; English R. King; Sarah A. McCarthy; Andrea L. Bucker; Ellen J. Deres; Margaret E. Richter; Nicholas J. Thompson; Michael W. Canfar...; Brendan P. O’Connell; Harold C. Pillsbury; Kevin D. Brown
• Keywords: Cochlear Implantation; Hearing aid

A prospective clinical trial evaluated the effectiveness of cochlear implantation in adults with asymmetric hearing loss (AHL). Twenty subjects mild-to-moderate better ear and moderate-to-profound poorer underwent ear. Subjects were preoperatively at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 months post-activation. Preoperative performance was unaided, traditional aids (HAs) or a bone-conduction HA. Post-activation implant (CI) alone combination contralateral HA (bimodal). Test measures included subjective benefit, word recognition, spatial (i.e., localization masked sentence recognition). Significant benefit reported as early 1-month interval, indicating CI compared preferred preoperative condition. Aided recognition significantly improved interval an continued to improve through 12-month interval. demonstrated early, significant improvements bimodal condition on tasks baseline tested unaided. The magnitude reduced for AHL when published data users normal ear; this finding may reflect differences age sensitivity across cohorts.