Results From The MED-EL Bilcia Multicenter Study

D´Haese, P

Research within hearing aids and normal hearing subjects has shown that binaural hearing offers additional advantages over monaural hearing. A multi-center study (BilCIA) was initiated in April 2000 to investigate into the binaural effects in post-lingually deafened cochlear implant users. All patients included in the core group were bilaterally implanted with a standard MED-EL COMBI 40+ electrode array, which was fully inserted into the cochlea. Furthermore, a multi-center study in the United States was initiated in September 2001. Currently, more than 200 patients (December 2002) were implanted bilaterally with the MED-EL COMBI 40+ implant.

Speech testing within the BilCIA study was performed in quiet and in noise with respectively CD recorded monosyllable and sentence materials. Within the noise condition, the signal was presented at +10 dB SNR. The test set-up consisted of 3 loudspeakers, one presenting speech at 0 degrees azimuth (1 meter distance) and two presenting speech weighted noise at +/- 90 degrees azimuth (1 meter distance).

Preliminary analysis of the data reveals the presence of a head shadow effect (p<0.001) in all patients. A squelch effect and diotic summation effect were present in some patients.

Further data collection and analysis is ongoing and will be presented.

Contact Information

D´Haese, Patrick
MED-EL
Worldwide Headquarters
Fürstenweg 77A
A-6020 Innsbruck
Austria
E-mail: p.dhaese@medel.com