BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Audiol. Otol.
Sec. Clinical Research in Auditory Implants and Hearing Aids
Volume 3 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fauot.2025.1613714
Binaural Speech Perception Patterns in Adult Listeners with Hearing Aids and/or Cochlear Implants: A Retrospective Observational Study
Provisionally accepted
Yonghee Oh1*
Chase Sereno2
Phillip Friggle1Josephine Kinder1Caroline Cuthbertson1
Hannah Borton1Lauren Pollock1
Ingrid Edwards2- 1University of Louisville, Louisville, United States
- 2Heuser Hearing Institute (HHI), Louisville, Colorado, United States
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Objectives: To explore binaural speech perception patterns in hearing aid (HA) and/or cochlear implant (CI) users through a retrospective observational study.Design: Monaural and binaural speech perception scores of 83 bimodal CI+HA, 89 bilateral CI, and 82 bilateral HA users were analyzed.The binaural benefit pattern dominated at 55% in the bilateral HA group, while only 1% of the binaural interference pattern was observed. The binaural benefit pattern was similarly dominant for both CI groups (bimodal CI+HA: 37%; bilateral CI: 40%); however, the bilateral CI group exhibited a higher rate of binaural interference than the bimodal CI+HA group (bimodal CI+HA: 8%; bilateral CI: 12%).The presence of binaural interference implies that listening on two devices is not always better than one. Increased understanding of how this binaural disadvantage affects speech perception for hearing-impaired users is clinically essential for future design of training-and device-based rehabilitative strategies to increase the binaural benefits.
Keywords: binaural benefit, better ear, binaural averaging, Binaural interference, cochlear implant, hearing aid, Speech Perception
Received: 17 Apr 2025; Accepted: 01 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Oh, Sereno, Friggle, Kinder, Cuthbertson, Borton, Pollock and Edwards. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yonghee Oh, University of Louisville, Louisville, United States
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