Audiological Evaluation of the MFi Connectivity in bimodal listeners with Nucleus 7 Sound Processor

The present prospective study investigates speech understanding and hearing effort of bimodal cochlear implant (CI) listeners in relation to telephony with direct binaural MFi (Made for iPhone,iPad, iPod) connectivity (Nucleus 7, Cochlear) versus standard telephony with previous bimodal fitting without signal streaming.

During two laboratory tests at the Hörzentrum Oldenburg, 20 experienced CI listeners will be tested with their own bimodal fitting without streaming (reference condition) in comparison to bimodal fitting with a Nucleus 7 processor and a GN ReSound hearing aid with direct MFi technology (test condition).

Speech intelligibility is measured in quiet and in noise using the Oldenburg sentence test (OLSA) and listening effort is measured in noise using Adaptive Categorical Listening Effort Scaling (ACALES). A subjective evaluation of speech intelligibility and listening effort is performed by presenting a radio play in quiet. The speech material is presented in all three measurement conditions via smartphone streaming (test condition) and conventional telephony (reference condition). Various questionnaires are used for a subjective assessment of hearing effort and speech intelligibility.

The data collected so far show an improvement in speech intelligibility (OLSA) of -2.45 dB SNR from reference condition to test condition. Subjectively, the hearing effort (10 = extrem effort; 0 = effortless) was rated median 3 (reference) and 1 (test condition). The subjective speech intelligibility (1=nothing understood; 7=all understood) was rated median 6 (reference condition) and 7 (test condition). These first results show improved speech intelligibility as well as a lower listening effort with the Cochlear MFi technology compared to conventional telephony.

Poster-PDF A-1935.PDF

Publication History

Article published online:
10 June 2020