TITLE:
Assessment of Fine Structure Processing Strategies in Unilaterally Deafened Cochlear Implant Users
AUTHORS:
Dayse Távora-Vieira, Gunesh P. Rajan
KEYWORDS:
CI, Unilateral Deafness, FS4, FS4-p
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery,
Vol.3 No.6,
November
6,
2014
ABSTRACT: This study aimed to investigate the speech perception and subjective preference of unilaterally deafened cochlear implant users for two different speech coding strategies. Thirteen subjects who received a cochlear implant were provided with 2 maps that differed in the speech coding strategy, FS4 or FS4-p (MED-EL). Subjects were requested to alternate between the two maps daily for two weeks and to complete a questionnaire daily. Speech perception testing was performed using the adaptive Bamford-Kowal-Bench speech-in-noise test (BKB-SIN) after two weeks of alternating FS4/FS4-p use. The subjective benefit of FS4-p was significantly greater than the subjective benefit of FS4 on all five questions of the questionnaire. There was a significant improvement in speech perception scores over time under the S0/N0, S0/NHE, SCI/NHE test conditions. There was no significant difference between the speech perception scores obtained with FS4 and FS4-p coding strategies. For this group of cochlear implant recipients, assessment of the subjective preference for the speech coding strategy is likely to enhance motivation, compliance and consequently, outcomes.