Benefits of Bimodal Hearing With Cochlear and Middle Ear Implants: Preliminary Results in Four Patients

Conventional hearing aids have some limitations in overcoming a large air-bone gap or in cases of severe high-frequency hearing loss. The authors aimed to evaluate the benefit of a new bimodal hearing configuration combining cochlear implantation (CI) and middle ear implant (MEI) in patients with severe mixed conductive and ski-slope hearing loss.

Retrospective case review.

Tertiary referral center.

Four patients with severe to profound hearing loss, who underwent CI in one ear and MEI in the other, were enrolled.

Audiological outcomes were assessed at least 6 months after the MEI/CI operation. Pure-tone audiometry (PTA) in unaided, CI-aided, and MEI-aided conditions were measured.

Average threshold changes in bands of frequencies (<1 kHz, ≥1 kHz) were compared between MEI-aided and HA-aided conditions. The Korean version of the Hearing-in-Noise Test (K-HINT), and speech perception score in noisy and quiet conditions were evaluated in the bimodal configuration (i.e., MEI with CI).

MEI-aided PTA was especially increased in high-frequency areas (≥1 kHz). Speech perception in noisy and quiet conditions demonstrated better scores in the bimodal configuration. K-HINT also demonstrated better scores in the bimodal configuration.

There is an increasing number of patients with unilateral CI and residual hearing in the contralateral ear. The benefits of a new bimodal hearing configuration with CI and MEI were demonstrated in patients with severe high-frequency hearing loss or mixed conductive hearing loss in the contralateral ear.