Asp Filip, Reinfeldt Sabine
a Division of Signal Processing and Biomedical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering , Chalmers University of Technology , Gothenburg , Sweden.
b Division of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases, Department of Clinical Science , Intervention and Technology Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm , Sweden.
Int J Audiol. 2018 Sep;57(9):657-664. doi: 10.1080/14992027.2018.1470337. Epub 2018 May 15.
The objective of this study is to quantify the effect of the Bone Conduction Implant (BCI) on sound localisation accuracy in subjects with conductive hearing loss (CHL).
The subjects were tested in a horizontal sound localisation task in which localisation responses were objectively obtained by eye-tracking, in a prospective, cross-sectional design. The tests were performed unaided and unilaterally aided. The stimulus used had a spectrum similar to female speech and was presented at 63 and 73 dB SPL. The main outcome measure was the error index (EI), ranging from 0 to 1 (perfect to random performance).
Eleven subjects (aged 21-75 years, five females) with BCI participated in the study. Their mixed/conductive hearing loss was either unilateral (n = 5) or bilateral (n = 6).
Three of five subjects (60%) with unilateral CHL, and four of six subjects (67%) with bilateral CHL showed significantly improved sound localisation when using a unilateral BCI (p < .05). For the subjects with bilateral CHL, a distinct linear relation between aided sound localisation and hearing thresholds in the non-implant ear existed at 73 dB SPL (18% decrease in the EI per 10 dB decrease in pure-tone average, r = 0.98, p < .001).
Individuals with mixed/conductive hearing loss may benefit from a unilateral BCI in sound localisation.
本研究的目的是量化骨传导植入物（BCI）对传导性听力损失（CHL）患者声音定位准确性的影响。
采用前瞻性横断面设计，让受试者在水平声音定位任务中接受测试，通过眼动追踪客观获取定位反应。测试在未辅助和单侧辅助的情况下进行。使用的刺激声频谱与女性语音相似，以63和73 dB SPL的强度呈现。主要结局指标是误差指数（EI），范围从0到1（从完美到随机表现）。
11名佩戴BCI的受试者（年龄21 - 75岁，5名女性）参与了研究。他们的混合性/传导性听力损失为单侧（n = 5）或双侧（n = 6）。
5名单侧CHL受试者中有3名（60%），6名双侧CHL受试者中有4名（67%）在使用单侧BCI时声音定位有显著改善（p <.05）。对于双侧CHL受试者，在73 dB SPL时，非植入耳的辅助声音定位与听力阈值之间存在明显的线性关系（纯音平均值每降低10 dB，EI降低18%，r = 0.98，p <.001）。
混合性/传导性听力损失患者可能从单侧BCI的声音定位中获益。
