Ricerc@Sapienza

Objective: Bimodal stimulation is a standard option for asymmetric hearing loss in adults. Questions have been raised whether receiving two stimulations may conflict in elderly listeners where the central integration of an acoustic/electrical signal may be very important to obtain benefit in terms of speech perception.
Design: Clinical retrospective study.
Study Sample: The outcomes from 17 bimodal cochlear implant (CI) users were analysed. The test material consisted of speech audiometry in quiet and in noise (STARR and Matrix).

With progressive expansion in candidacy criteria for CI, it is increasingly common to implant candidates with severe to profound hearing loss in one side and substantial acoustic hearing in the contralateral hear (Mild-moderate HL up to 500Hz and severe to profound > 1000 Hz). These patient typically display > 50% sentences recognition in quiet and poor recognition in noise. One critical factor is the long duration of hearing loss with variable deprivation of the implanted side.