Objectification of auditory training effects in patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) after cochlear implantation

Introduction:

In patients with single sided deafness (SSD) the listening outcome after cochlear implantation (CI) is often unsatisfactory. The aim of this study is to use a new therapy concept to specifically train the CI- ear in order to optimize the results of the treatment.

Methods:

Nine SSD patients conducted an auditory training, both in the clinic and independently at home over a period of 10 weeks. The Freiburg monosyllable test, the Oldenburger and the Göttinger sentence test as well as tests using the material of the auditory training were performed one week before and one week after the training to investigate speech perception with the CI-ear.

In addition, the success of the therapy concept was objectively evaluated by using electroencephalography (EEG). The event-related potentials (ERP) were evoked by acoustic stimulation of the implanted ear with speech stimuli within an oddball paradigm.

The EEG measurements allow a comparison of the neuronal correlates of speech perception in SSD patients before and after the auditory training.

Results:

A significant increase in speech perception was observed in the Freiburg monosyllable test in quiet and in the Göttingen sentence test in background noise. The remaining tests showed slight improvements on average. The improvements could be confirmed by the objective EEG data to some extent.

Conclusions:

In order to optimize the outcome after cochlear implantation, regular training of the CI-ear several times a week is recommended, even for a short duration (approx. 20 minutes).

In some cases, ERP is a good instrument for objectifying the success of the training.

The validity will be further investigated in comparison to a control group.

Publication History

Publication Date:
23 April 2019 (online)