Abstract
For some individuals with severe high-frequency hearing loss, hearing aids cannot provide a satisfactory improvement in speech recognition. However, these same patients often have too much residual hearing to qualify as candidates for a cochlear implant. Here we describe results with the Iowa/ Nucleus Hybrid cochlear implant, which is designed to preserve the patient's residual low-frequency hearing while at the same time supplementing their high-frequency hearing through electrical stimulation. The advantages of this approach are presented, including improved speech recognition in competing backgrounds as compared with traditional cochlear implants. The results with the Iowa/Nucleus Hybrid device demonstrate the ability of the auditory system to integrate acoustic and electrical stimulation, even under conditions of severe distortions to the normal cochlear place-frequency mapping.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 769-778 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development |
Volume | 45 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2008 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Cochlear implant
- Combined acoustic and electrical hearing
- Frequency selectivity
- Hearing aid
- Hearing loss
- High-frequency hearing loss
- Rehabilitation
- Residual hearing
- Sensorineural hearing loss
- Speech recognition
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Rehabilitation