Do adults and children over 7 years of age with unilateral or assymetric hearing loss benefit from cochlear implantation on the worst hearing side.

Unilateral hearing loss is known to impair binaural hearing abilities. Specifically, localization, speech understanding in noise, and binaural squelch suffer due to lack of binaural timing and level cues. This study is designed to examine how binaural hearing is improved following cochlear implantation on the impaired side. The study endpoints are collected at 6 months and 12 months post activation of the implant.

This is not a funded study. All costs are billed through insurance for reimbursement. There is an insurance approval process that we move through after a participant has been evaluated at the Mayo Clinic and found to be a candidate for cochlear implantation.

Adults

• 18 years of age or older,
• Hearing loss in the ear to be implanted must such that speech understanding is not possible with a well fitted hearing aid. Specifically, less than 40% monosyllabic word understanding when that ear is tested in the best-aided condition and the other ear is sufficiently occluded or masked.
• Onset of hearing loss in the adult group must be post-lingual (after three years of age)

Children

• Children 7 years of age and older
• Hearing loss in the ear to be implanted configured such that word understanding is less 40% in the best aided condition
• Onset of hearing loss in the pediatric group must be post-lingual (after three years of age)

This study includes adults and children over 7 years of age who have suffered single sided deafness. Word understanding on the impaired side must not exceed 50% correct in the best aided condition.