A Multicenter Clinical Evaluation of Data Logging in Cochlear Implant Recipients Using Automated Scene Classification Technologies

Abstract

Currently, there are no studies assessing everyday use of cochlear implant (CI) processors by recipients by means of objective tools. The Nucleus 6 sound processor features a data logging system capable of real-time recording of CI use in different acoustic environments and under various categories of loudness levels. In this study, we report data logged for the different scenes and different loudness levels of 1,366 CI patients, as recorded by SCAN. Monitoring device use in cochlear implant recipients of all ages provides important information about the listening conditions encountered in recipients' daily lives that may support counseling and assist in the further management of their device settings. The findings for this large cohort of active CI users confirm differences between age groups concerning device use and exposure to various noise environments, especially between the youngest and oldest age groups, while similar levels of loudness were observed.

Do Acoustic Environment Characteristics Affect the Lexical Development of Children With Cochlear Implants? A Longitudinal Study Before and After Cochlear Implant Activation

“…With regard to CI use, our data showed significant increases in device use across observations, but an average daily use that is still in line with previous studies (Busch et al, 2017;Cristofari et al, 2018). The increased use of CIs over the first year after implantation could be caused by a decrease in the hours that the children spent sleeping (Iglowstein et al, 2003) and by the parents' greater ability to help with CI use (Walker et al, 2013).…”

“…Interestingly, the authors found that the children with less exposure time to speech in quiet (at loudness levels lower than 70 dB) during interactions with others during the day had lower vocabulary scores. This is an important finding, given that, in previous research, speech in noise was found to be more frequent than speech in quiet in the auditory environments of cochlear-implanted children and adults (Busch et al, 2017), especially at younger ages due to their more frequent exposure to music (Cristofari et al, 2018;Rauch et al, 2019). However, early individual differences in vocabulary size may also have affected Guerzoni and Cuda's (2017) findings.…”

“…According to previous studies, children spend most of their time in the context of speech in noise (Busch et al, 2017;Cristofari et al, 2018;Rauch et al, 2019); most of their interactions take place in the presence of noisy backgrounds, as in cooccurrence with the speech of other children, adult conversations, games, or television. Our finding that music is also a frequent acoustic scene is in line with recent studies showing frequent exposure to music during early childhood (Busch et al, 2017;Cristofari et al, 2018;Rauch et al, 2019), both at home and in educational contexts. Finally, in contrast with previous studies on various age groups (Busch et al, 2017), we found that speech in quiet was not significantly less frequent than speech in noise.…”

Healthy aging in elderly cochlear implant recipients: a multinational observational study

“…As has been pointed out by [4], there have been no studies, to our knowledge, investigating the impact of CI and their relationship to complex social environments. Data logging may serve as an initial step by enabling comparison of different sound environments (scenes), especially quiet versus noise [15]. A further advantage of data logging is use time.…”

Use of 3D Volume Rendering Based on High-Resolution Computed Tomography Temporal Bone in Patients with Cochlear Implants

“…In future studies, we will evaluate the benefit of 3D volume rendering using the Nucleus audio processor equipped with a data recording system that can record in real time the use of CI in different acoustic environments and in various categories of volume levels [19]. Radiological evaluation plays a key role in CI surgery, but we must always keep in mind that temperament plays a role in the adaptation to CI and certain character traits may be risk or protective factors for surgery and rehabilitation outcomes [20–22].…”