Speech discrimination in bilateral and unilateral hearing loss due to Ménière's disease

A comparison of the speech audiograms of patients with bilateral and unilateral hearing loss due to Menière's disease has shown that when matched in respect of pure-tone hearing levels, speech discrimination at the better ear of the former is appreciably better than that at the impaired ear of the latter. In addition, while roll-over is a characteristic feature of the unilateral group it is conspicuously absent in the bilateral group. More surprisingly, in the bilateral group, despite relatively small differences in the pure-tone hearing levels at the two ears, speech discrimination at the better ear is strikingly superior to that at the poorer ear. It is concluded that patients with bilateral hearing loss selectively make use of the better ear to the neglect of the poorer ear. This could have important implications in the prescription of binaural hearing aids.