The results of this study indicate that individuals with long-term prelinguistic deafness can achieve significant open-set speech understanding with a cochlear implant, although there is a wide range of performance across patients. The results ranged from 0% to 74% for words and 0% to 98% for sentences.

This study examined: (1) the prevalence of hearing-aid use in a clinical population of adults with unilateral cochlear implants, (2) the relationship between hearing-aid use, severity of hearing loss, duration of deafness and duration of cochlear implant use, and (3) the benefits of bimodal hearing from the users' perspective. Using a retrospective design, 31 adults were identified as bimodal users, and 93 adults implanted in the same period were identified as non hearing-aid users. The two groups were similar in regards to duration of deafness but differed in severity of hearing loss and time since implantation. Questionnaires examining frequency and situations of hearing-aid use were completed by 24 of 31 bimodal users. Fifteen of these 24 adults reported hearing-aid use more than 50% of the time. These findings suggest that, of the 72 adults in this study with useable hearing (pure-tone average better than 110 dB), about 30% or less regularly combined a hearing aid and cochlear implant. The questionnaire results suggest that regular bimodal users prefer bimodal hearing across a variety of listening environments such as music, noise, and reverberation.

This study explored: (1) the benefits of an FM system in real-world environments from the perspective of adults with coch-lear implants, and (2) the factors and barriers to using an FM system with a cochlear implant. Using a qualitative research design, 14 adults with unilateral cochlear implants recorded their experiences during a two-month trial period with a personal FM system and responded to a questionnaire at the end of the trial. A detailed analysis of 169 journal entries (230 hours of FM use) permitted a description of the benefits and negative aspects associated with FM use in everyday listening environments. The primary benefits were related to improved access to and quality of sound, improved distance listening, ease of listening, and better social integration. Negative perceptions were associated with the equipment both with regard to physical aspects and adjustments. In addition, technical, individual, social, and environmental factors were identified that can influence the user's decision to use the FM device. Questionnaire responses indicated that the majority of individuals rated the FM system as somewhat or very helpful. The findings suggest that FM systems can improve communication in everyday listening environments for some adults with cochlear implants.

Improvements in performance can be attributed to evolving speech coding strategies and speech processors rather than to differences in preimplant candidacy.

Benefits were measured during remote microphone use in focused-listening situations in a clinical setting, for both television viewing and speech understanding in noise in the audiometric sound suite. The results suggest that adult cochlear implant users should be counseled regarding the potential for enhanced speech understanding in difficult listening environments through the use of remote microphone technology.