Evaluation of speech perception in noise in cochlear implanted adults

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Speech recognition in noise is a significant challenge for cochlear implant (CI) users.
• Understanding the impact of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on speech perception is crucial for CI device optimization.
• Assessing real-world listening difficulties aids in evaluating CI effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate how different signal-to-noise ratios affect speech recognition in cochlear implant (CI) users.
• To compare speech recognition in noise across various multichannel CI types.
• To assess the self-reported difficulty of speech understanding in daily noisy situations.

Main Methods:

• A cohort transversal study involving 40 post-lingual hearing loss adults implanted with various CI models (Nucleus 22, 24; Combi 40, 40+; Clarion).
• Speech recognition for CPA sentences was tested in quiet and at SNRs of +15, +10, and +5 dB.
• The Social Hearing Handicap Index (SHHI) questionnaire was used for self-assessment of daily listening difficulties.

Main Results:

• A significant decrease in sentence recognition scores was observed as the SNR decreased across all CI users.
• The median speech recognition score reached 50% at an SNR of +10 dB.
• No statistically significant differences were found in speech recognition or SHHI scores among the different CI types.

Conclusions:

• Speech recognition significantly declines with decreasing signal-to-noise ratios for all CI users.
• Different multichannel CI types demonstrated comparable speech recognition performance in noise.
• CI users reported rare difficulties in quiet but occasional challenges in noisy environments.