A comparative study of hearing and speech outcome in patients after unilateral cochlear implant and bimodal hearing.

Objective  :  Objective of the study was to evaluate early hearing and speech outcomes of Cochlear Implant in patients with bimodal stimulation ( patients who use Cochlear Implant in one ear & hearing aid in the other) and compare it with the patients using Cochlear Implant only .

Method : Study was conducted in Department of ENT , Civil Hospital , Ahmedabad . We studied & evaluated early outcome of Cochlear Implant  in 25 patients of 1–5 years age group,  who used Bimodal stimulation & compared It with 25 patients who used CI only.  Study was carried out over period of  2 years & Hearing & Speech Ability was recorded on Category of Auditory Performance(CAP) Scale & Speech Intelligibility Rating(SIR) Scale at the intervals of 6 months .

Result :. Patients who used bimodal stimulation showed  better scores   on  Category of Auditory Performance Scale(CAP) &  Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR) compared to the  patients who did not use bimodal stimulation.

Conclusion :  Patients with bimodal stimulation showed better  auditory & verbal  responses compared to patients who did not receive bimodal stimulations. So use of bimodal stimulation should be recommended.