The rabbit ear comedogenicity assay is useful as a screening procedure for evaluating agents that come in contact with human skin. Controversy exists regarding the reliability of this assay because of differences in results from various laboratories. The subjective nature of the standard method of grading may also contribute to this variation. We use a more objective comedogenicity assay that utilizes increasing follicular orifice size on the rabbit ear as a measure of comedogenic activity. A generally linear increase in the degree of follicular orifice area was noted with several agents evaluated over a four-week application period. Further, a noninvasive Silastic elastomer mold was used to allow measurement of the same follicular orifice areas over time.

Binaural hearing offers numerous advantages over monaural hearing. While bilateral implants are a successful treatment option for some patients, many individuals choose to achieve binaural hearing by using a cochlear implant with a contralateral hearing aid. Compared with monaural hearing, benefits of bimodal hearing include improved speech perception in quiet and in noise, improved localization, and more natural sound quality. Despite the advantages, there exist disadvantages to bimodal hearing, primarily related to binaural integration. Management of these devices can be challenging in that the hearing aid and cochlear implant may be managed by different clinicians. When fitting devices, strategies are recommended to optimize the integration of input from both devices. In managing bimodal devices, recommended outcomes measures include those that would reflect bimodal benefit, such as speech understanding in noise and spatial sound quality perception.

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