Speech perception with simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants: Is there a unilateral predominance?

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the audiological outcomes and speech performance among children with simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants (CIs).

Methods: This was a retrospective case review of 41 patients with prelingual deafness who failed a hearing aid trial and received simultaneous bilateral CIs. Ear-specific responses in terms of pure tone average (PTA), speech reception thresholds (SRTs), and speech discrimination score (SDS) were recorded for both ears of all patients.

Results: The PTA and SRT for the right and left CIs were comparable (P-value = 0.861 and P-value = 0.524, respectively). The SDS was slightly higher for the right ear, although it was not significantly different from that for the left ear (P-value = 0.375), yielding only a 2.42% difference.

Conclusion: We found no significant side preference in all assessment scores for children with simultaneous bilateral CIs. Therefore, we cautiously advise implanting the CI in the right ear in case of symmetrical hearing loss when other prognostic factors do not favor the left ear.

Keywords: Bilateral cochlear implants; Cochlear implant; Prelingual deafness; Right ear; Speech audiometry; Speech perception.