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Benefits of Bilateral Implants: Patient Materials

AB provides informative materials to help your patients understand how bilateral implantation may offer the best possible hearing.¹

With two cochlear implants, your patients may experience:^2,3

Better hearing in noisy enviornments, making it easier to hear in noisy offices
Improved ability to localize sound, making it easier to know the direction of a honking horn, alarm, etc.
Greater ease of listening, making it less exhausting to keep up with conversation
Enhanced sound quality, making it easier to fully appreciate music and more

Technology Advances for Bilateral Implantation

This Advanced Bionics white paper discusses how advancements in technology can have the potential to add significant benefit through implantation in both ears.

AB offers additional documents and webinars that discuss the advantages of using cochlear implants in both ears, rather than one.

Research Reinforces Early Bilateral Implantation in Children

Clinical research demonstrates that two cochlear implants greatly improve your pediatric patients’ ability to hear and understand speech better in noisy environments like classrooms and parks.¹

Children Who Hear More Advance More

Binaural hearing is the optimal choice for your pediatric patients’ speech, language, and communication development. Stimulating the hearing nerves in both ears early in a child’s life may improve their ability to listen, talk, and learn along with their normal-hearing peers.

Literature on cochlear implants makes it clear that bilateral children - as well as adults - perform better with two cochlear implants.²

Jake Succeeds with Two Implants

“I began thinking about him going bilateral once he began benefitting from the first implant. The day Jake’s second implant was switched on, he didn’t want to take the Harmony processor off because it helped with background noise. Going bilateral is the best thing we’ve ever done, apart from having the first one.”

— Jane Foreman, mother of Jake, implanted at age 5, bilaterally implanted at age 13

Patients Have Better Speech Understanding

Adults with cochlear implants can understand speech better with two implants compared to listening with one implant alone - even in quiet settings. From romantic dinners to parent-teacher conferences, bilaterally implanted adults recognize more spoken words.

Average word scores in quiet 3, 6, and 8 months after implantation for 15 adults implanted in both ears at the same time. Understanding speech is easier with two implants, and improves with experience.¹

Patients Hear Better in Difficult Listening Situations

Two cochlear implants help adults interact with friends and business associates at noisy restaurants or clamorous parties. Adults who use two cochlear implants hear much better in noise compared to those with just one.

Percent of adults showing better scores with two implants compared to one implant for three tests of listening to speech in noise of varying difficulties.¹

Patients Localize Sound with Accuracy and Ease

From ambulance sirens to honking car horns, two cochlear implants help adults more accurately determine where sound is coming from, just like their normal-hearing peers.

Left vs. right localization accuracy for the right implant alone, left implant alone, and both implants together. Localization is improved significantly when using two implants.¹

The Listening Room for Your Patients & Your Practice

The Listening Room^TM is a one-of-a-kind website that gives your patients a foundation of interactive and uniquely designed, FREE practice activities in English to improve their listening skills so that communicating with others is a successful experience.

Exercises can be done alone; with a therapist, parent, or listening coach; on paper; or with an iPod/MP3 player.

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References

Koch DB, Soli SD, Downing M, and Osberger MJ. 2009. Simultaneous Bilateral Cochlear Implantation: Prospective Study in Adults. Cochlear Implants International (February 26), Cochlear Implants International, n/a. doi: 10.1002/cii.413

Zeitler D, et al. 2008. Speech Perception Benefits of Sequential Bilateral Cochlear Implantation in Children and Adults: A Retrospective Analysis. Otology & Neurotology. 29 (3): 314–325.

Dunn C, et al. 2008. Comparison of Speech Recognition and Localization Performance in Bilateral and Unilateral Cochlear Implant Users Matched on Duration of Deafness at Age of Implantation. Ear and Hearing. 29 (3): 352–359.