Electric-Acoustic Stimulation Outcomes in Children.

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Otorhinolaryngology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Children with hearing loss often use hearing aids (HA) but may have insufficient access to high-frequency sounds.
• Cochlear implants (CI) provide electrical stimulation for severe to profound hearing loss.
• Electric-acoustic stimulation (EAS) combines acoustic and electric stimulation for residual hearing preservation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare speech perception outcomes between EAS and conventional electric-only stimulation in pediatric CI users.
• To evaluate the benefit of EAS and electric-only stimulation compared to preoperative HA use in children with residual hearing.
• To assess the long-term benefits of EAS in children with prior experience using electric-only CI.

Main Methods:

• A within-subject design was used with 16 pediatric CI recipients (ages 4-16) with residual hearing.
• Participants were evaluated using the Consonant-Nucleus-Consonant (CNC) word list and the Baby Bio in noise.
• Outcomes were compared between EAS and full electric (FE) programs, and with preoperative HA scores for new recipients.

Main Results:

• Speech perception scores were significantly higher with EAS compared to the FE program.
• New recipients showed significant improvements with EAS over preoperative HA scores, but FE results were not significantly better after 6 months.
• Long-term FE users demonstrated benefits from EAS over their existing FE programs.

Conclusions:

• Children with residual hearing, whether new or long-term CI users, benefit from EAS.
• EAS is a suitable option for pediatric CI candidates with residual hearing and poor speech perception.
• EAS can improve access to high-frequency sounds and enhance speech understanding in children.