[Speech discrimination with bilateral cochlear implants in noisy conditions].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the speech discrimination abilities of patients with bilateral cochlear implants.


METHODS
The speech discrimination scores of Cantonese lexical tones were compared between two patients with unilateral and bilateral cochlear implants at different signal to noise (S/N) ratios.


RESULTS
At favorable listening conditions with S/N ratios of +15, +10, and  the mean binaural speech discrimination scores were 96%, 92% and 88%, but the mean monaural speech discrimination scores from the left and right ear were 86%, 83% and 74% respectively. At unfavorable listening conditions with adverse S/N ratios of 0, -5, -10 and -15, almost no speech discrimination scores could be obtained from monaural hearing but 80%, 72%, 68% and 54% respectively from binaural stimulation.


CONCLUSIONS
Bilateral cochlear implants improve the discrimination of Cantonese lexical tones better than unilateral cochlear implant at various S/N ratios This study confirms the benefits of binaural hearing even in patients using bilateral cochlear implants.
Au
K K
KK
Division of Otorhinolaryngology, Department of Surgery, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong Medical Centre, Hong Kong, China. kinkwau@hkucc.hku.hk
Jin
H
H
Hui
Y
Y
Wei
L
L
D000328:Adult; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests