Author(s)
Arne Ernst, MD, PhD
Rolf Battmer, PhD
Affiliation(s)
Hospital of the University of Berlin
Abstract:
It is the aim of the present study to investigate hearing aid technology feature and their impact in uni/bilateral CI andbimodal device users.In our prospective, non-randomized series, 30 patients (16 female, 14 female, average age 49 yr ) were investigated atbaseline and 1 / 3 months after re-fitting. Ten patients each (3 groups) were recruited: unilateral CI users (A), bilateral CIusers (B) and bimodal CI users with one CI and a contralateral hearing aid (C). At baseline, their performance with aconventional T mic was measured with a sentence test (OLSA) in noise and localization was tested (ONE -SO/N60/120/180) or (TWO -S0/N30/60/180). After refitting with UltraZoom (A), they were re-tested. Group B was givenUltra & StereoZoom mics and group C was fitted with a contralateral Phonak Naida Link hearing aid (HA) and loudnessbalancing. Controls were normal hearing subjects.There was a significant advantage for Ultra/StereoZoom for all groups.The largest advantage (StereoZoom) was in group(B) and a significant advantage for StereoZoom over UltraZoom in group C (p ≤ 0.001). Group B performed as well ascontrols in both lateralization setups and group C as well as in setup ONE. There was a significant benefit of 1.8 dB(sentence test) for ClearVoice over UltraZoom in group (A).Ultra/StereoZoom microphone technology at the speech processor level provided a clinically and statistically significantbenefit over the T mic and helps to improve CI performance significantly, particularly in those specific patientpopulations.Define Professional Practice Gap & Educational Need: Cochlears implants were deeply influenced by modern hearingtechnology features (zoom/directional microphones, acoustic Input Streaming) from the hearing aid Industry. This is ofgreat importance for patients with bimodal, unilateral, but to some extent also for bilateral CI users, particularly in noiseand for spatial hearing. The impact of those Features should be systematically investigated to better counsel our patientsand to better understand the Ratio of this approach.Learning Objective: The learning objective of this study is to better understand that modern hearing aid features ascombined or incorporated into CI technology can offer our patients an additional Benefit which leads to a hearingperformance that comes close to normal Hearing controls.Desired Result: The results of this study support the hypothesis that state-of-the-art hearing Technologies improve thePerformance of CIs.Level of Evidence: LEVEL III - Cohort and case-control studiesIRB: Exempt