Benefits of a contralateral routing of signal device for unilateral Naída CI cochlear implant recipients

Isabelle Mosnier (1, 2, 3) , Ghizlene Lahlou (1, 2, 4) , Jonathan Flament (2, 3) , Nathalie Mathias (5) , Evelyne Ferrary (2, 3, 1) , Olivier Sterkers (2, 3, 1) , Daniele Bernardeschi (2, 3, 1) , Yann Nguyen (2, 3, 1)

1 CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière [AP-HP]
2 SU - Sorbonne Université
3 Réhabilitation Chirurgicale mini-Invasive et Robotisée de l'Audition
4 Génétique et Physiologie de l'Audition
5 Advanced Bionics

PURPOSE : Many bilaterally deaf adults are only able to receive one cochlear implant (CI), resulting in suboptimal listening performance, especially in challenging listening environments. Adding a contralateral routing of signal (CROS) device to a unilateral CI is one possibility to alleviate these challenges. This study examined the benefit of such a CROS device. METHODS : Thirteen adult subjects with at least 6 months of CI use, and no or limited benefit of a hearing instrument in the contralateral ear were included in the study. The perceived benefit of a CROS device in everyday listening environments was evaluated up to 1 year after initial fitting using several questionnaires. Speech intelligibility performance was determined using the French matrix sentence test in quiet and in two speech-in-noise setups and was followed for 3 months after CROS fitting. RESULTS : Subjects indicated high satisfaction with the practical usability of the CROS device and long-term device retention was high. Perceived benefits in everyday listening environments were reported. Formal speech intelligibility tests revealed statistically significant median improvements of 6.93 dB SPL (Wilcoxon Z = 2.380, p = 0.017) in quiet and up to 8.00 dB SNR (Wilcoxon Z = 2.366, p = 0.018) in noise. These benefits were accessible immediately without a need for prolonged acclimatization. CONCLUSIONS : Subjective satisfaction and device retention as well as speech intelligibility benefits in quiet and in noise prove the CROS device to be a valuable addition to a unilateral CI in cases of bilateral deafness where bilateral implantation is not an option.

Mots clés: Speech intelligibility; Cochlear implantation; CROS; Binaurality; Subjective benefit

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Médecine humaine et pathologie

Isabelle Mosnier, Ghizlene Lahlou, Jonathan Flament, Nathalie Mathias, Evelyne Ferrary, et al.. Benefits of a contralateral routing of signal device for unilateral Naída CI cochlear implant recipients. European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, 2019, 276 (8), pp.2205-2213. ⟨10.1007/s00405-019-05467-9⟩. ⟨hal-02385205⟩