Perception of Intonation by Bimodal and Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users
Perception of Intonation by Bimodal and Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the benefit of bimodal hearing and bilateral
 cochlear implant hearing in comparison to unilateral cochlear implant hearing in the
 perception of speech intonation.
Bilateral hearing which is a fundamental characteristic of normal auditory system provides
 significant advantages in adverse listening conditions. In cochlear implant users, binaural
 hearing can be achieved via bilateral cochlear implant (CI/CI) or binaural-bimodal
 stimulation, i.e. a cochlear implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the other (CI/HA). It is
 assumed that CI/CI hearing and CI/HA hearing differ with respect to their physiological
 sources and functional benefit. Although both hearing prosthesis (CI/CI or CI/HA) lack
 several of the features needed to allow listeners to experience the full binaural advantage
 conferred by a normal-hearing auditory system it can, however, provide significant advantages
 over the use of a unilateral hearing prosthesis. Most of the accepted assessment clinical
 materials are not sensitive enough to evaluate the contribution of binaural hearing
 rehabilitation via CI/CI or CI/HA hearing for the perception of intonation. In a previous
 study the perception of intonation was evaluated in 29 adults CI/HA users via a closed-set
 format design with the same target talker. The results of the study showed small bimodal
 benefit. The test paradigm was apparently an easy task for the adult listeners and not
 sensitive enough to show the expected CI/HA bimodal benefit over cochlear implant alone.

 The perception of correct intonation identification will be computed for each listener in
 each of the listening conditions. The amount of change in the fundamental frequency that was
 required in order to identify a question will be computed for each listener in each of the
 conditions. ANOVA with repeated measures will be used to assess the differences among the
 conditions for each group as well as the differences among the groups.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Bilateral cochlear implant users

 -  Bilateral-bimodal users who use hearing aids for at least 75% of their waking hours.

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -