Bilateral cochlear implants or bimodal hearing: A comparison of quality of life

Current literature suggests that bimodal users (i.e., individuals using a cochlear implant—CI—and a contralateral hearing aid) may report better outcomes in some listening situations (e.g., pitch perception and music appreciation) than bilateral CI users; however, several studies report conflicting results. Currently, there is no widely accepted criterion for bilateral simultaneous or sequential CI candidacy in adults, and clinicians typically rely on the patient’s experience to determine whether bilateral or bimodal hearing is best for that individual. Therefore, in this study we compare responses from twenty-four bilateral and bimodal users on the Cochlear Implant Quality of Life (CIQOL) questionnaire. Results demonstrated that bilateral CI users report better scores for the emotional, environmental, social, listening effort, and global scales than bimodal users. No significant difference in age, speech recognition abilities, and duration of hearing loss between the two groups were observed; however, the two groups did differ on their duration of CI use, such that the bimodal users had less experience listening with their CIs than the bilateral CI users. These findings do not replicate previous in-lab results, which demonstrate a bimodal user advantage and stresses the need to further explore the self-reported benefits of bimodal versus bilateral CI hearing.