gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: The success of a cochlear implant in single-side deafened CI patients depends not only on the measured objective speech test results, but also on the subjective benefits that patients in everyday life thereby experience.

Therefore, it is examined here whether the speech test results and the individual assessment in benefit are related.

Material and methods: In the cross-sectional study 55 adult single-sided deaf CI patients were included who passed their annual CI aftercare in the clinic between the 1st and 4th year. They were questioned onetime with the Bern questionnaire for the benefit of hearing aids for single-sided deafness (BBSS). In a scale ranging from -5 to 5 the patients rate their perceived benefit in hearing in situations of daily communication. Speech intelligibility was measured with the Freiburger monosyllables and the HSM sentence test in quiet and in noise in direct connection via cable.

Results: The results of the speech tests reached after the increase in the first year, a maximum performance level, so that the CI patients have adequate experience in listening for their assessment.

In the questionnaire, the majority of patients rates generally a large subjective benefit by the CI in everyday life. Situations like understanding speech in quiet surroundings, while watching TV, understanding speech in the car and sound localization are more positively evaluated than music listening and speech understanding in noise.

The subjective assessment and objective speech test results are related. The 50% of patients with the better speech test results in quiet have indicated a higher rating with the median of 2, while the other 50% with lower proficiency in test results evaluate a slightly lower benefit with the median of 1.

A similar relation exits in the speech test results in noise: the 50% of patients who understand better, have a more positive assessment with the median of 2, while the patients who performed lower rate neutral with the median of 0.

Summary: In summary it can be stated that the majority of CI patients with single-sided deafness have a subjective benefit by the CI. There is a relation between the experienced use and speech test results. For patients who subjectively perceive no benefit despite of good speech understanding, attention should be paid in the follow-up on counselling.