Effectiveness and efficiency of a dedicated bimodal fitting formula

Area of Science:

• Audiology and Hearing Science
• Biomedical Engineering
• Otorhinolaryngology

Background:

• Growing population of unilateral cochlear implant (CI) users possess residual hearing in the contralateral ear.
• Contralateral hearing aid use in bimodal listeners enhances speech intelligibility, sound quality, localization, and reduces listening effort.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a dedicated hearing aid fitting prescription designed for bimodal listeners.
• To compare the performance and user preference of the dedicated bimodal fitting against the clinical standard.

Main Methods:

• Nine bimodal CI users participated in the study.
• A dedicated bimodal hearing aid fitting was evaluated.
• Speech intelligibility in noise was assessed and compared to the clinical standard prescription.

Main Results:

• The dedicated bimodal fitting demonstrated speech intelligibility performance on par with the clinical standard prescription in noise.
• A significant majority (78%) of bimodal CI users preferred the dedicated bimodal fitting.
• The fitting process required minimal subject-specific fine-tuning, indicating clinical efficiency.

Conclusions:

• The dedicated bimodal fitting is a viable and preferred option for unilateral CI users with contralateral residual hearing.
• This approach offers comparable speech intelligibility to standard fittings with enhanced user preference and clinical efficiency.