Binaural advantages in users of bimodal and bilateral cochlear implant devices.
This paper investigates to what extent users of bilateral and bimodal fittings should expect to benefit from all three different binaural advantages found to be present in normal-hearing listeners. Head-shadow and binaural squelch are advantages occurring under spatially separated speech and noise, while summation emerges when speech and noise coincide in space. For 14 bilateral or bimodal listeners, speech reception thresholds in the presence of four-talker babble were measured in sound-field under various speech and noise configurations. Statistical analysis revealed significant advantages of head-shadow and summation for both bilateral and bimodal listeners. Squelch was significant only for bimodal listeners.
Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045 kokkinak@ku.edu, nataliespak@ku.edu.
Kostas
K
Kokkinakis
Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045 kokkinak@ku.edu, nataliespak@ku.edu.
Natalie
N
Pak
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013067:Speech Perception; D055815:Young Adult