Spatial listening with cochlear implants
A Deafness Research UK studentship was awarded to Rosemary Lovett to work with Professor Quentin Summerfield at the University of York.
[Studentship: 2006-2009]
Throughout the world, about 50,000 children have been helped to hear with cochlear implants – the “bionic ear” devices that replace missing or damaged sensory “hair cells”. All but a handful of these children use a single implant in one ear.
The overall aim of this project is to measure abilities in ‘spatial listening’ in young deaf children who use cochlear implants. There is growing interest in providing children with two implants – one in each ear. Potentially, among other benefits, two-eared listening improves the ability to locate sources of sound and to track their movements.
These advantages should help children to know where to look to see who is talking at home and at school, and to know where to move to avoid hazards when outdoors. The challenge for research is to demonstrate that these advantages are realised when children are fitted in both ears.
Normal hearing and cochlear implanted children have been tested on three relevant abilities: to judge whether a source of sound is on the left or the right; to decide where on the left or right a source is located; and to work out whether a source is moving to the left or to the right.
The main beneficiaries from the study will be the parents of deaf children, clinicians, and policy makers in the health service. They will learn whether there are advantages from having two cochlear implants compared with the less invasive option of one implant and an acoustic hearing aid.
Some results from the study have already been used to inform new proposed guidance on cochlear implantation from NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence). NICE recommends that all children who are newly diagnosed with severe to profound deafness are offered cochlear implants in both ears. More information on the guidance can be found here:
Rosemary Lovett has also been awarded the Pauline Ashley Prize 2009, enabling her to collaborate with Professor Jay Rubinstein at the University of Washington in Seattle on a project aiming to predict the ability of infants and toddlers with cochlear implants to understand speech. Read about the award here:
