Asymmetric Hearing Loss in Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients: Results and Recommendations From a Multisite Prospective Clinical Trial.

Objective: A multisite clinical trial was conducted to obtain cochlear implant (CI) efficacy data in adults with asymmetric hearing loss (AHL) and establish an evidence-based framework for clinical decision-making regarding CI candidacy, counseling, and assessment tools. Study hypotheses were threefold: (1) 6-month postimplant performance in the poor ear (PE) with a CI will be significantly better than preimplant performance with a hearing aid (HA), (2) 6-month postimplant performance with a CI and HA (bimodal) will be significantly better than preimplant performance with bilateral HAs (Bil HAs), and (3) 6-month postimplant bimodal performance will be significantly better than aided, better ear (BE) performance.

Design: Forty adults with AHL from four, metropolitan CI centers participated.

Evaluation of the American English Matrix Test with Cochlear Implant Recipients.

Objective: Currently, the variety of speech recognition tests used to evaluate cochlear implant (CI) recipients makes it difficult to compare results, especially across languages. The Matrix Test limits contextual cues and is available in multiple languages, including American English. The current study investigated test format and noise type for the American English Matrix Test (AMT) and compared results to AzBio sentence scores in adult CI recipients.

Relationship between electrode position and temporal modulation sensitivity in cochlear implant users: Are close electrodes always better?

Temporal modulation sensitivity has been studied extensively for cochlear implant (CI) users due to its strong correlation to speech recognition outcomes. Previous studies reported that temporal modulation detection thresholds (MDTs) vary across the tonotopic axis and attributed this variation to patchy neural survival. However, correlates of neural health identified in animal models depend on electrode position in humans.

The Core Rehabilitation Outcome Set for Single-Sided Deafness (CROSSSD) study: International consensus on outcome measures for trials of interventions for adults with single-sided deafness.

Background: Single-sided deafness (SSD) has functional, psychological, and social consequences. Interventions for adults with SSD include hearing aids and auditory implants. Benefits and harms (outcome domains) of these interventions are until now reported inconsistently in clinical trials.

External Validation of Cochlear Implant Screening Tools Demonstrates Modest Generalizability.

Objective: To assess the clinical application of five recently published cochlear implant (CI) candidacy evaluation (CICE) referral screening tools through external validation.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Tertiary otology/neurotology practice.