Sentence Recognition in Quiet and Noise in School-Going Indian Children Using Bimodal Hearing

To compare sentence recognition scores in quiet and noise in 8 to 15-years old children using bimodal hearing in CI only condition and bimodal condition (BM) (CI + HA). Twenty prelingually deafened participants (8-15 years) using cochlear implant in one ear and hearing aid in the other ear were recruited. The sentence recognition was assessed in CI Quiet, CI + 15 dB SNR, CI + 8 dB SNR, BM Quiet, BM + 15 dB SNR and BM + 8 dB SNR. The highest sentence recognition scores were obtained in the quiet condition, followed by the + 15 dB SNR and then by the + 8 dB SNR condition in both CI only and BM conditions. The sentence recognition scores obtained in BM condition were significantly better than CI only condition. Variables like unaided PTA and aided PTA correlated significantly with the sentence recognition scores in BM conditions. This study was done on Indian population where till date no published data is available. It recommends that all the school going children using unilateral cochlear implants should be recommended to use a hearing aid in the contra lateral ear. This practice will help them to receive all the binaural benefits, better listening in noise, localization, spatial release from masking and pitch perception in comparison to unilateral CI use. Moreover, it will help to keep the auditory nerve viable for future implantation which is an important implication for children who have limited benefit from the contra lateral hearing aid.