Comparison of the body-worn CIS-PRO + and the behind-the-ear-worn TEMPO + cochlear implant systems in Finnish-speaking adult CI users: any differences in results with experienced listeners?
CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that the need for upgrading the processor and/or speech coding strategy should be considered individually, if the processor and coding strategy are functioning properly and a good level of speech perception has been achieved.


OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to study the intra-individual differences of the body-worn CIS-PRO + and the behind-the-ear-worn TEMPO + cochlear implant systems used in the MED-EL Combi40/Combi40 + implants.


METHODS
The hearing level, sentence, word and phoneme recognition of eight adult subjects were determined in an ABA study design. Additionally, a self-assessment questionnaire was used. Mean scores and 95% confidence intervals, and individual scores were analysed.


RESULTS
The subjects tended to score slightly better on word and phoneme recognition with CIS-PRO+ and CIS strategy than with TEMPO+ and CIS+, but there were no statistically significant differences. Subjectively the participants ranked speech perception and discussion in noise to be slightly easier with TEMPO+ and CIS+. Six of the eight subjects preferred TEMPO+ and CIS+ and two of eight preferred CIS-PRO+ with CIS or number-of-maxima.
Välimaa
Taina Tuulikki
TT
Department of Finnish, Information Studies and Logopedics, University of Oulu, Finland. taina.valimaa@oulu.fi
Löppönen
Heikki Juhani
HJ
D000328:Adult; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D013067:Speech Perception; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult