In the near future most cochlear implant patients will hear with two 'ears'-- either with two cochlear implants (CI) or with a CI and a hearing aid in the opposite ear (combined electric and acoustic hearing or EAS). The goal of the research proposed here is to develop a tool for clinical decision making relative to these two interventions. Clinical decision making will depend critically on the nature of the tests and environments used to assess the benefit of having two ears participate in speech understanding. Standard clinical test environments can only approximate the real world environment of having sound surround the listener. Laboratory environments with multiple, spatially separated speakers can simulate real world environments but cannot be duplicated in the clinic for reasons of time, space and cost. In this project we will test EAS and bilateral CI patients in both standard and realistic test environments with the goal of creating a decision matrix that links data that can be easily collected in the clinic, e.g., CNC scores in quiet and the amount of residual hearing, with data that cannot be collected in the clinic, i.e., data collected with multiple, spatially separated loudspeakers. We propose to test bilateral CI patients and EAS patients in two realistic test environments using an 8-speaker 'surround sound system'which can simulate, with high fidelity, (i) a restaurant environment with speech babble as the noise, and (ii) a cocktail party environment with competing sentence material as the noise - a situation of 'informational'masking.

Public Health Relevance

This project will allow clinicians to make data-driven decisions about options for hearing restoration in patients who qualify for a cochlear implant. The data will allow clinicians to determine whether two cochlear implants, or an implant plus hearing aid, is the better option.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DC010821-04
Application #
8477168
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDC1-SRB-R (33))
Program Officer
Donahue, Amy
Project Start
2010-07-01
Project End
2015-06-30
Budget Start
2013-07-01
Budget End
2014-06-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$296,851
Indirect Cost
$84,362
Name
Arizona State University-Tempe Campus
Department
Other Health Professions
Type
Schools of Allied Health Profes
DUNS #
943360412
City
Tempe
State
AZ
Country
United States
Zip Code
85287
Gifford, René H; Loiselle, Louise; Natale, Sarah et al. (2018) Speech Understanding in Noise for Adults With Cochlear Implants: Effects of Hearing Configuration, Source Location Certainty, and Head Movement. J Speech Lang Hear Res 61:1306-1321
Gifford, René H; Dorman, Michael F (2018) Bimodal Hearing or Bilateral Cochlear Implants? Ask the Patient. Ear Hear :
Dorman, Michael F; Natale, Sarah; Spahr, Anthony et al. (2017) Speech Understanding in Noise by Patients With Cochlear Implants Using a Monaural Adaptive Beamformer. J Speech Lang Hear Res 60:2360-2363
Dorman, Michael F; Natale, Sarah Cook; Butts, Austin M et al. (2017) The Sound Quality of Cochlear Implants: Studies With Single-sided Deaf Patients. Otol Neurotol 38:e268-e273
Dorman, Michael F; Gifford, Rene H (2017) Speech Understanding in Complex Listening Environments by Listeners Fit With Cochlear Implants. J Speech Lang Hear Res 60:3019-3026
Dorman, Michael F; Liss, Julie; Wang, Shuai et al. (2016) Experiments on Auditory-Visual Perception of Sentences by Users of Unilateral, Bimodal, and Bilateral Cochlear Implants. J Speech Lang Hear Res 59:1505-1519
Loiselle, Louise H; Dorman, Michael F; Yost, William A et al. (2016) Using ILD or ITD Cues for Sound Source Localization and Speech Understanding in a Complex Listening Environment by Listeners With Bilateral and With Hearing-Preservation Cochlear Implants. J Speech Lang Hear Res 59:810-8
Dorman, Michael F; Loiselle, Louise H; Cook, Sarah J et al. (2016) Sound Source Localization by Normal-Hearing Listeners, Hearing-Impaired Listeners and Cochlear Implant Listeners. Audiol Neurootol 21:127-31
Loiselle, Louise H; Dorman, Michael F; Yost, William A et al. (2015) Sound source localization by hearing preservation patients with and without symmetrical low-frequency acoustic hearing. Audiol Neurootol 20:166-71
Zeitler, Daniel M; Dorman, Michael F; Natale, Sarah J et al. (2015) Sound Source Localization and Speech Understanding in Complex Listening Environments by Single-sided Deaf Listeners After Cochlear Implantation. Otol Neurotol 36:1467-71

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