Effect of bimodal hearing in Korean children with profound hearing loss.

CONCLUSION

Bimodal hearing with combined acoustic stimulation and electric stimulation could enhance speech performance in deaf patients by residual hearing even though the amount of residual hearing is not enough to be used for communication by amplification.

OBJECTIVES

The cochlear implant (CI) is a well-known therapeutic option for patients with profound hearing loss. However, deaf patients with a CI still have trouble in localization of sounds and understanding speech in a noisy environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefits of bimodal hearing with a CI in one ear and a hearing aid in the contralateral ear in Korean children with profound hearing loss.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Fourteen deaf children with residual hearing participated in this study. There were eight male and six female patients, with an age range of 4.6-13.8 years at the time of testing. The test was conducted between 3 months and 4.2 years after cochlear implantation. Speech performance was examined in a noisy environment using Korean word lists. A speech sound and the noise were presented to the child from the front loudspeaker.

RESULTS

The results showed that speech performance in a noisy environment was significantly better with bimodal hearing than with a CI alone.