Feasibility of bimodal aiding in adult cochlear implant users
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Assessment of the feasibility of optimising hearing aid fitting in adult unilateral cochlear implant users who have residual hearing in their non-implanted ear
IRAS ID
172821
Contact name
Padraig Kitterick
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 29 days
Research summary
A cochlear implant (CI) is an established treatment for severe-to-profound hearing losses. In the UK there are currently around 12,000 CI users. The majority of these are fitted with a CI in one ear (a unilateral CI). Bilateral CIs (one in each ear) are not currently indicated in the UK adult population predominantly due to high cost. Many studies have described benefits of bimodal aiding (using a CI in one ear in conjunction with a hearing aid in the other ear). However, many of these studies have been conducted outside the UK where patients may have better hearing in their non-implanted ear than they do in the UK (due to more relaxed CI criteria in other countries). At present there are no established guidelines on bimodal aiding available to clinicians. This study proposes to assess the feasibility of optimising bimodal aiding in UK unilateral CI users by the following three methods: firstly investigating by survey the current trends in hearing aid usage in adult unilateral CI users, secondly by conducting a series of semi-structured interviews with unilateral CI users to further probe the usage and benefits of wearing a hearing aid in the non-implanted ear, and thirdly to conduct bimodal assessments to compare bimodal performance with unilateral CI performance. Results from these three phases will be used to assess the feasibility of conducting further research on optimising hearing aid fitting for CI users.
REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
15/NI/0054
Date of REC Opinion
30 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion