Binaural Cue Sensitivity in Children and Adults With Combined Electric and Acoustic Stimulation

Summary

Cochlear implants are surgically implanted devices which restore the ability to hear to the hearing impaired. Improvements in surgery and electrodes have results in an increased number of adults and children who have residual hearing and can benefit from electric and acoustic hearing in the same ear. This is called Electric Acoustic Stimulation (EAS). Many studies have shown that adult EAS users show significant benefits for speech understanding in noise and spatial hearing tasks as compared to a CI paired only with a contralateral HA. Even though this type of hearing is becoming more common, there is limited research on how it can be beneficial to children with CIs. The benefits of this study are a greater understanding of the participant's speech understanding, binaural processing, and spatial hearing. The results will help audiologists and researcher better understand how cochlear implants work, specifically when using electric and acoustic hearing in the same ear.

Description

Eligibility

Age range

5+ years

Sex

All

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Interventions

• Other
  Electric and acoustic stimulation (EAS) technology in the implanted ear(s)-this is the combination of a cochlear implant (CI) and hearing aid (HA) in the implanted ear(s)

  This is a clinical fitting of an FDA approved EAS system for study participants that have received or who are scheduled to receive a CI based on clinical recommendations (i.e. not study related). The investigators will activate the CI sound processor's integrated HA circuit to allow for low-frequency acoustic amplification and mid-to-high frequency electric stimulation in the implanted ear(s) using recommended and accepted clinical practices and audiologic verification. EAS fitting will be completed using FDA approved clinical software and thereby is within the electrical and clinical specifications of the FDA approved device and accompanying software.

Locations (4)