TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of removing low-frequency electric information on speech perception with bimodal hearing
AU - Fowler, Jennifer R.
AU - Eggleston, Jessica L.
AU - Reavis, Kelly M.
AU - McMillan, Garnett P.
AU - Reiss, Lina A.J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
PY - 2016/2
Y1 - 2016/2
N2 - Purpose: The objective was to determine whether speech perception could be improved for bimodal listeners (those using a cochlear implant [CI] in one ear and hearing aid in the contralateral ear) by removing low-frequency information provided by the CI, thereby reducing acoustic-electric overlap. Method: Subjects were adult CI subjects with at least 1 year of CI experience. Nine subjects were evaluated in the CI-only condition (control condition), and 26 subjects were evaluated in the bimodal condition. CIs were programmed with 4 experimental programs in which the low cutoff frequency (LCF) was progressively raised. Speech perception was evaluated using Consonant-Nucleus-Consonant words in o quiet, AzBio sentences in background babble, and spondee words in background babble. Results: The CI-only group showed decreased speech perception in both quiet and noise as the LCF was raised. Bimodal subjects with better hearing in the hearing aid ear (< 60 dB HL at 250 and 500 Hz) performed best for words in quiet as the LCF was raised. In contrast, bimodal subjects with worse hearing (> 60 dB HL at 250 and 500 Hz) performed similarly to the CI-only group. Conclusions: These findings suggest that reducing lowfrequency overlap of the CI and contralateral hearing aid may improve performance in quiet for some bimodal listeners with better hearing.
AB - Purpose: The objective was to determine whether speech perception could be improved for bimodal listeners (those using a cochlear implant [CI] in one ear and hearing aid in the contralateral ear) by removing low-frequency information provided by the CI, thereby reducing acoustic-electric overlap. Method: Subjects were adult CI subjects with at least 1 year of CI experience. Nine subjects were evaluated in the CI-only condition (control condition), and 26 subjects were evaluated in the bimodal condition. CIs were programmed with 4 experimental programs in which the low cutoff frequency (LCF) was progressively raised. Speech perception was evaluated using Consonant-Nucleus-Consonant words in o quiet, AzBio sentences in background babble, and spondee words in background babble. Results: The CI-only group showed decreased speech perception in both quiet and noise as the LCF was raised. Bimodal subjects with better hearing in the hearing aid ear (< 60 dB HL at 250 and 500 Hz) performed best for words in quiet as the LCF was raised. In contrast, bimodal subjects with worse hearing (> 60 dB HL at 250 and 500 Hz) performed similarly to the CI-only group. Conclusions: These findings suggest that reducing lowfrequency overlap of the CI and contralateral hearing aid may improve performance in quiet for some bimodal listeners with better hearing.
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U2 - 10.1044/2015_JSLHR-H-15-0247
DO - 10.1044/2015_JSLHR-H-15-0247
M3 - Article
C2 - 26535803
AN - SCOPUS:84959247657
SN - 1092-4388
VL - 59
SP - 99
EP - 109
JO - Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
JF - Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
IS - 1
ER -