Benefits of Bilateral Electrical Stimulation with the Nucleus Cochlear Implant in Adults: 6-Month Postoperative Results

Abstract

Similar to what has been observed for bilateral acoustic stimulation in the past, bilateral electrical stimulation provides the foundation for the potential advantages of the head-shadow effect, providing a binaural head-shadow benefit and binaural auditory processing such as binaural redundancy and binaural squelch effects, all of which combine to lead to improved speech comprehension over unilateral listening conditions. The combination of improved speech comprehension and improved localization ability made available through bilateral electrical stimulation provides the necessary foundation to further assist the hearing-impaired listener to better cope with communication in the everyday listening situation both in noise and in quiet.