The Effect of Bimodal Hearing on Post-Operative Quality of Life.

INTRODUCTION: To examine how bimodal stimulation affects quality of life (QOL) during the post operative period following cochlear implantation (CI). This data could potentially provide evidence to encourage more bimodal candidates to continue hearing aid (HA) use after CI.

METHODS: In this prospective study, patients completed preoperative, and 1-, 3- and 6-months post-activation QOL surveys on listening effort, speech perception, sound quality/localization, and hearing handicap. 15 HA users who were candidates for contralateral CI completed the study (mean age 65.6 years).

RESULTS: Patients used both devices a median rate of 97%, 97% and 98% of the time at 1, 3, and 6 months respectively. On average, patients' hearing handicap score decreased by 16% at 1 month, 36% at 3 months, and 30% at 6 months. Patients' listening effort scores decreased by a mean of 10.8% at 1 month, 12.6% at 3 months and 18.7% at 6 months. Localization improved by 24.3% at 1 month and remained steady. There was no significant improvement in sound quality scores.

CONCLUSION: Bimodal listeners should expect QOL to improve, and listening effort and localization is generally optimized using CI and HA compared to CI alone. Some scores improved at earlier time points than others, suggesting bimodal auditory skills may develop at different rates.