A Retrospective Study of Bimodal Benefits of Cochlear Implant Children

Purpose: Bimodal children showed various improvements in speech, language, and music perception. The purpose of this study is to investigate bimodal benefits and bimodal hearing aid fitting of cochlear implant children with a retrospective chart review. Methods: A total of 44 charts of cochlear implant children were retrospectively reviewed in this study. Hearing thresholds, word recognition scores, and hearing aid fitting procedures were reviewed and summarized. Results: Bimodal children showed 4%points improvements in word recognition scores and 30~40 gains across frequencies with hearing aids. For bimodal hearing aid fitting, all children used desired sensation level v5 fitting formula with wide frequency bands. Real ear measurements were performed to match with targets and loudness balancing across ears was also conducted. Hearing thresholds with and without hearing aids were not correlated with word recognition scores in bimodal condition. Conclusion: Bimodal children showed improved hearing thresholds with hearing aids and little bimodal benefits in word recognition tests. Additional protocols including speech in noise tests, subjective questionnaires are recommended to evaluate bimodal benefits.