Post-doctoral research fellow Massachusetts Eye and Ear Boston, Massachusetts
Educational Objective: At the conclusion of this presentation, the participants should be able to understand the differences in cochlear implant (CI) usage between single sided deafness (SSD) patients and bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (biSNHL) patients in different listening environments and how it correlates with auditory performance.
Objectives:Compare data logging of cochlear implant (CI) patients with single sided deafness (SSD) or bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (biSNHL) in different listening environments. Study Design: Retrospective case control study.
Methods: We identified adult CI patients with SSD or biSNHL from 2010-2021 and included subjects with usage data collected at 3, 6, and 12 months following device activation. The CI listening environment was defined as speech in noise, speech in quiet, quiet, music, or noise. Speech intelligibility was measured using Consonant-Nucleus-Consonant (CNC) word lists and AzBio sentence testing. Subjective outcomes were quantified using the Client Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI) and the Tinnitus Handicap Index (THI).
Results: 30 SSD CI users were matched with 30 biSNHL CI users. biSNHL patients wore their devices significantly more than SSD patients at 3 months followup (8.97 versus 11.18 hours/day), though there were no differences observed at 6-12 months. Both groups used their CI more for speech in quiet compared to other environments. There was a significant positive correlation (r, 0.63) between device use and CNC scores at 12 months only for SSD subjects. In the COSI survey, subjects with SSD reported a mild improvement in speech understanding in quiet and in noise. SSD subjects had significant improvement in THI scores 12 months after activation compared to preop values.
Conclusions: SSD CI users have comparable duration of device usage to biSNHL CI users when measured at longer followup periods with a preference for listening to speech in quiet in both patient populations. Increased CI use correlates with better auditory performance among SSD compared to biSNHL subjects.