Binaural integration abilities in bilateral cochlear implant user

Bilateral Cochlear implants (CIs) improved speech intelligibility, speech perception in background noise, and sound localization in quiet and noisy situations. However, it is unclear whether these advantages essentially result in binaural integration of acoustic stimuli from each ear. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of binaural integration by bilateral CIs placement using binaural hearing tests and subjective auditory perceptual assessment. A 61-year-old bilateral CIs subject underwent the following four tests:the Japanese Hearing in Noise Test (HINT-J), the dichotic listening test (DLT), the Rapidly Alternating Speech Perception (RASP) test, and subjective auditory perceptual assessment. The HINT-J score was significantly higher for bilateral CIs than for a unilateral CI. However, DLT and the RASP test revealed contradictory results. Subjective auditory perceptual assessment revealed active and bright impressions for bilateral hearing, which were also noisy and strong compared with those for unilateral hearing. The results of this study revealed that bilateral CIs improved speech perception in background noise and an improved auditory impression, although the bilateral integration abilities were not improved. This was probably because the patient was required to combine information from the two ears into a single perception in DLT and the RASP test. More longitudinal data should be collected and analyzed in future studies to evaluate the long-term effects of bilateral CIs. Copyright ? 2016, PLA General Hospital Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. Production and hosting by Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Differential advantages of musical backgrounds on binaural integration and interaction skills in instrumentalists,vocalists,and non-musicians

Background:Musical perception requires a host of skills.Instrumental musicians place greater emphasis on motor coordination,whereas vocal musicians rehearse vocal sounds.The study explored the differential advantages of musical background on binaural integration and interaction in musicians(instrumentalists,vocalists)and compared them with age-matched non-musicians.Methods:Eight six participants aged 20e40 y with normal hearing sensitivity were subjected to binaural tests using a standard group comparison research design.The participants were segregated into three groups e Group 1 included instrumentalists(n?26,mean age:17.73±2.83 y),while Group 2 and Group 3 consisted of vocalists(n?30,mean age:19.30±2.47 y)and non-musicians(n?30,mean age:18.20±3.02 y)respectively.The binaural processes namely integration(Dichotic syllable test,DST;and virtual acoustic space identification-VASI)and interaction(Interaural difference thresholds for time and level:ITD&ILD),were administered on all the participants.Results:Statistical analyses showed the main effect of musicianship.Bonferroni pair-wise test revealed that the musicians(instrumentalists and vocalists)outperformed(p<0.05)non-musicians in all the tests.The differential advantage of the musical background was seen on the binaural integration test with instrumentalists performing better in the VASI test compared to vocalists,and vice-versa for DST.No difference was observed in interaction tasks(ITD&ILD)between vocalists and instrumentalists(p>0.05).Conclusion:Musical background-induced differential advantages can be reasonably noted in the binaural skills of instrumentalists and vocalists(compared to non-musicians).