Virtual Day with the Experts: Cochlear Implants 2022

Cochlear implantation has resulted in remarkable gains in hearing and spoken language for children with profound deafness. We have learned that early cochlear implantation in children is very important for development of brain pathways. We have also learned that providing hearing to both ears offers benefits over hearing from one ear alone. Bilateral cochlear implantation can be done safely in very young children with excellent outcomes and yet there
are still limitations for how the developing auditory system integrates input from the two devices. These challenges reduce spatial hearing abilities in children with bilateral cochlear implants which limits the potential benefits for their social and academic growth. Our research is examining ways to help children’s auditory systems better recognize and use input from bilateral cochlear implants in an effort to support development of spatial hearing. We think this is an important step to overcoming remaining hearing challenges in children who are deaf.

Some adults have hearing loss severe enough to qualify for a cochlear implant. Although many of these individuals have hearing loss in both ears, they will receive a cochlear implant in only one ear, while continuing to use a hearing aid in the contralateral ear. This is known as bimodal hearing, in which individuals receive bilateral auditory input from two different modes of stimulation. This presentation discusses approaches to bimodal hearing.

Listeners with Single-Sided Deafness (SSD) have one hearing ear and one deaf ear. Sometimes the hearing ear thresholds are in the normal-hearing range. Even so, SSD listeners report that understanding speech in noise requires a great deal of effort. A growing number of patients with SSD are opting to receive a cochlear implant (CI) in their deaf ear to regain access to sound in both ears. Researchers are studying this group of SSD CI listeners to learn about when the CI improves their speech understanding and when it may interfere. Specifically, this study investigated whether the difference between an SSD CI listener’s acoustic and CI ears influences the amount of binaural improvement they demonstrate, and whether it is accompanied by a reduction in listening effort.