How interaural level differences differ between children with bilateral cochlear implants and their normally-hearing peers

A group in the Netherlands investigated interaural level differences (ILDs) in children who were bilaterally implanted with cochlear implants (CIs) and compared their performance to their normally-hearing peers. ILDs are used to localise sound and rely on the high-frequency cues....

How patients reacted to postponement of cochlear implant surgery due to COVID-19

The onset of COVID-19 in 2020 required widespread cancellation of elective surgeries, one of these being cochlear implant for profoundly deafened adults and post-lingually deafened children. Through a questionnaire, to which 23 out of 38 patients responded, this qualitative study...

Effect of stimulation levels on speech recognition and auditory threshold performance

When programming a Cochlear® device, two measurements are normally assessed. T levels relate to the quietest sound the CI user can hear i.e. thresholds, and C levels are comfortable levels which are tolerable for the CI user. If these levels...

Quality of life in adolescence

Adolescence can be a difficult time and the added complexity of a hearing loss can exacerbate feelings during this period. In the literature, there are mixed findings that show while some children with hearing loss score poorly on some aspects...

Which cross-over frequency is best for electro-acoustic stimulation?

Advances in technology and improved soft surgical techniques have led to individuals with better hearing thresholds, especially at the low frequencies, becoming candidates for cochlear implants (CI). Surgeons are more confident that residual hearing can be preserved thus making those...

Auditory deprivation and single-sided deafness

In cases of bilateral auditory deprivation, there is clear evidence of an inverse relationship between performance after cochlear implantation and the length of severe to profound deafness prior to implantation (i.e. the longer the deprivation the poorer the outcome on...

Recurrent seroma in cochlear implanted patients

Little is known about why some patients experience recurrent seromas over the implant package and in the absence of any cause, antibiotics are frequently prescribed as a precaution to protect the implant from infection. A tertiary referral centre selected five...

Milestones profile for children with cochlear implant

Over the last eight years, Nottingham auditory implant programme have developed and validated a profile of auditory milestones for use with children receiving bilateral cochlear implants under the age of two years. The structure of the Nottingham Auditory Milestones profile...