title: Localization and speech understanding by a patient with bilateral cochlear implants and bilateral hearing preservation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The authors describe the localization and speech-understanding abilities of a patient fit with bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) for whom acoustic low-frequency hearing was preserved in both cochleae.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three signals were used in the localization experiments: low-pass, high-pass, and wideband noise. Speech understanding was assessed with the AzBio sentences presented in noise.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Localization accuracy was best in the aided, bilateral acoustic hearing condition, and was poorer in both the bilateral CI condition and when the bilateral CIs were used in addition to bilateral low-frequency hearing. Speech understanding was best when low-frequency acoustic hearing was combined with at least one CI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The authors found that (1) for sound source localization in patients with bilateral CIs and bilateral hearing preservation, interaural level difference cues may dominate interaural time difference cues and (2) hearing-preservation surgery can be of benefit to patients fit with bilateral CIs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech and Hearing Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85258, USA. mdorman@asu.edu
authors.forename: Michael F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Dorman
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Spahr
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Loiselle
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yost
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013017:Sound Localization / Q000502:physiology*; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult