Effects of simulated cochlear implant listening on postural control in typical-hearing adults

Heightened listening effort in cochlear implant (CI) users may have a significant impact on their balance performance. This study aims to investigate the impact of listening effort on postural control in typical-hearing adults presented with CI-simulated speech in noise.

The study participants were fifty-eight adults with typical hearing (aged 20-24 years). Turkish Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) sentences were used as the speech material. The Modified Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction in Balance (mCTSIB) was used to evaluate static balance and it was performed by using Computerized Static Posturography. In the experimental design of the study, healthy participants with typical hearing listened to non-simulated and CI-simulated sentences and repeated what they heard while the participants were performing the mCTSIB test on the force platform of static posturography.

In this study, the participants' postural sway velocity rates were compared under three task conditions. The results demonstrated a statistically significant increase in participants' sway velocity rates when listening to 12-channel filtered speech in noise material compared to those from the baseline mCTSIB assessment. There was no statistically significant differences in postural sway rate ratios when listening to unfiltered speech in noise material.

Increased listening effort for CI-simulated speech-in-noise resulted in poorer postural balance. A better understanding of such a difficulty may help us to evaluate postural balance from different perspectives and plan an appropriate vestibular rehabilitation program.