Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) and Spatial Hearing Questionnaire (SHQ) Changes Over Time in Adults With Simultaneous Cochlear Implants

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the changes over time of the Spatial Hearing Questionnaire (SHQ; Tyler, Perreau, & Ji, 2009) and the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ; Gatehouse & Noble, 2004) in adults with simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants by collecting data for 2 years after implantation. Method Nineteen postlingual subjects participated in this study. Average age at implant was 63 years. The subjects' data were included in this retrospective analysis only if they completed both questionnaires. We compared subjects' SSQ and SHQ scores to word recognition and sound localization performances. Results The study showed SHQ and SSQ scores continuously improved up to 1 year postimplantation, with the most improvement occurring within the first 6 months of implantation. After 1 year, the scores reached a plateau. This is consistent with laboratory tests from the same 19 subjects, and they showed high correlations ( p < .05). The present study also showed a high degree of correlation between SHQ and SSQ scores. Conclusions Both the SSQ and SHQ scores improved up to 12 months postimplantation, with the most improvement during the first 6 months of implantation. Both were consistent with laboratory tests. There was a high degree of correlation between SHQ and SSQ scores.

Age-Related Performance on Vowel Identification and the Spectral-temporally Modulated Ripple Test in Children With Normal Hearing and With Cochlear Implants

“…This increase in performance presumably occurs as they adapt to perceiving sound through the implant, which is very different than the acoustic hearing they had previously. However, such improvement in adults appears to plateau after only about 1 year ( Ruffin, Tyler, Witt, Dunn, Gantz, & Rubinstein, 2007 ; Zhang et al., 2015 ). A longitudinal investigation of speech identification performance of both adults and children with CIs demonstrated that adults’ speech recognition scores peaked prior to 2 years postimplantation, while pediatric CI users’ scores continued to improve throughout the 4 years of the study ( Oh et al., 2003 ).…”

Patient Benefit Following Bimodal CI-provision: Self-reported Abilities vs. Hearing Status

“…This may have been too short to have gained enough individual experience with bimodal listening in all situations that are assessed by the SSQ-B ( 57 ). Other longitudinal studies with CI-patients evidence however, that most improvement seen in the SSQ takes place during the first 6 months and that a stable plateau is reached within this interval ( 7 ). Also, improvements in sentence comprehension in quiet and noise essentially reach a stable plateau within 6 months of CI use, while improvements in the FBE test continue until 12 months post-implantation ( 58 ).…”

“…With technological progress, relaxation of criteria for cochlear implantation and the aim to achieve binaural hearing, bimodal provision, i.e., a cochlear implant (CI) in one ear and a hearing aid (HA) at the other ear, is used by a growing number of CI-patients. Overall, this combination of electrical and acoustical hearing has benefits, but this is not necessarily true for each user and all types of conditions ( 1 – 7 ). Given the relatively limited body of literature on bimodal hearing and because of progress in CI- and HA-technology, further research on the benefits of bimodal hearing is warranted.…”

Exploring older adults hearing and vision and driving – The Swedish study

“…Participants were also asked to rate on a scale how hard they need to concentrate when listening. The questions were based on Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) and Spatial Hearing Questionnaire (SHQ) (Zhang et al, 2015).…”