Speech Recognition of Bimodal Cochlear Implant Recipients Using a Wireless Audio Streaming Accessory for the Telephone

Objective: The goals of the present investigation were (1) to evaluate recognition of recorded speech presented over a mobile telephone for a group of adult bimodal cochlear implant users, and (2) to measure the potential benefits of wireless hearing assistance technology (HAT) for mobile telephone speech recognition using bimodal stimulation (i.e., a cochlear implant in one ear and a hearing aid on the other ear). Study Design: A three-by-two-way repeated measures design was used to evaluate mobile telephone sentence-recognition performance differences obtained in quiet and in noise with and without the wireless HAT accessory coupled to the hearing aid alone, CI sound processor alone, and in the bimodal condition. Setting: Outpatient cochlear implant clinic. Subjects: Sixteen bimodal users with Nucleus 24, Freedom, CI512, or CI422 cochlear implants participated in this study. Intervention (s): Performance was measured with and without the use of a wireless HAT for the telephone used with the hearing aid alone, CI alone, and bimodal condition. Main Outcome Measure(s): CNC word recognition in quiet and in noise with and without the use of a wireless HAT telephone accessory in the hearing aid alone, CI alone, and bimodal conditions. Results: Results suggested that the bimodal condition gave significantly better speech recognition on the mobile telephone with the wireless HAT. Conclusions: A wireless HAT for the mobile telephone provides bimodal users with significant improvement in word recognition in quiet and in noise over the mobile telephone.