To date, objective measurements and psychophysical experiments have been used to measure frequenc... more To date, objective measurements and psychophysical experiments have been used to measure frequency dependent basilar membrane (BM) delays in humans; however, in vivo measurements have not been made. This study aimed to measure BM delays by performing intracochlear electrocochleography in cochlear implant recipients. Sixteen subjects with various degrees of hearing abilities were selected. Postoperative Computer Tomography was performed to determine electrode locations. Electrical potentials in response to acoustic tone pips at 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz and clicks were recorded with electrodes at the frequency specific region. The electrode array was inserted up to the characteristic cochlear frequency region of 250 Hz for 6 subjects. Furthermore, the array was inserted in the region of 500 Hz for 15 subjects, and 1, 2, and 4 kHz were reached in all subjects. Intracochlear electrocochleography for each frequency-specific tone pip and clicks showed detectable responses in all subject...
WprowadzenieNiepożądana stymulacja nerwu twarzowego, występująca sporadycznie u użytkowników impl... more WprowadzenieNiepożądana stymulacja nerwu twarzowego, występująca sporadycznie u użytkowników implantów ślimakowych, prowadzi do mimowolnego skurczu mięśni mimicznych twarzy wskutek rozpływu prądu stosowanego w celu wywołania wrażeń słuchowych. Wystąpienie pobudzenia nerwu twarzowego często prowadzi do konieczności ograniczenia poziomu stymulacji, co z kolei powoduje zbyt ciche słyszenie przez implant. Aby ograniczyć niepożądaną pozaakustyczną stymulację, firma Med-El zaproponowała modyfikację kształtu impulsów stymulujących.Materiał i metodyGrupa badana liczyła 6 dzieci w wieku od 6 do 15 roku życia, użytkowników systemu implantu ślimakowego firmy Med-El. Do badania wybrano pacjentów, u których zaobserwowano pobudzenie nerwu twarzowego podczas stymulacji przez implant ślimakowy, a jednocześnie potrafiących subiektywnie określić wrażenie głośności za pomocą skali kategorialnej. U każdego z nich wykonano skalowanie głośności, prowadząc stymulację przez pojedynczą elektrodę. Badanie wy...
Understanding speech in background noise is challenging. Wearing face-masks, imposed by the COVID... more Understanding speech in background noise is challenging. Wearing face-masks, imposed by the COVID19-pandemics, makes it even harder. We developed a multi-sensory setup, including a sensory substitution device (SSD) that can deliver speech simultaneously through audition and as vibrations on the fingertips. The vibrations correspond to low frequencies extracted from the speech input. We trained two groups of non-native English speakers in understanding distorted speech in noise. After a short session (30–45 min) of repeating sentences, with or without concurrent matching vibrations, we showed comparable mean group improvement of 14–16 dB in Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) in two test conditions, i.e., when the participants were asked to repeat sentences only from hearing and also when matching vibrations on fingertips were present. This is a very strong effect, if one considers that a 10 dB difference corresponds to doubling of the perceived loudness. The number of sentence repetiti...
Purpose The purpose of the study was to validate the AQoL-8D questionnaire in the adult populatio... more Purpose The purpose of the study was to validate the AQoL-8D questionnaire in the adult population of patients referred to an otolaryngology clinic. Methods AQoL-8D was translated into Polish. 463 patients (age18–80 years) with otolaryngological conditions were assessed with the AQoL-8D, SF-6D, and SWLS questionnaires. We investigated the item content-relevance, factor structure by means of Confirmatory Factor Analysis, corrected item-total correlations, Cronbach’s alpha, Pearson correlation of the AQoL-8D scores with results from SF-6D and from the SWLS questionnaires. Finally, ANOVA was used to test the AQoL-8D ability to group the HRQoL of patients in terms of their otolaryngological management type. Results The median score of item content-relevance was 5.0 for all AQoL-8D items. Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed the following fit indices: Comparative Fit Index = 0.81; Tucker–Lewis Index = 0.80; and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.07. Cronbach's alpha for AQo...
Understanding speech in background noise is challenging. Wearing face-masks during COVID19-pandem... more Understanding speech in background noise is challenging. Wearing face-masks during COVID19-pandemics made it even harder. We developed a multi-sensory setup, including a sensory substitution device (SSD) that can deliver speech simultaneously through audition and as vibrations on fingertips. After a short training session, participants significantly improved (16 out of 17) in speech-in-noise understanding, when added vibrations corresponded to low-frequencies extracted from the sentence. The level of understanding was maintained after training, when the loudness of the background noise doubled (mean group improvement of ~ 10 decibels). This result indicates that our solution can be very useful for the hearing-impaired patients. Even more interestingly, the improvement was transferred to a post-training situation when the touch input was removed, showing that we can apply the setup for auditory rehabilitation in cochlear implant-users. Future wearable implementations of our SSD can a...
W pracy przedstawiono podstawy teoretyczne tworzenia i walidacji narzędzi ankietowych. Najważniej... more W pracy przedstawiono podstawy teoretyczne tworzenia i walidacji narzędzi ankietowych. Najważniejsze etapy tego procesu: zdefiniowanie badanego problemu, przygotowanie pozycji testowych, określenie formatu odpowiedzi, standaryzacja, walidacja i normalizacja zostały omówione na przykładzie kwestionariusza LittlEARS.
WstępDążenie do optymalnego wykorzystania okresu krytycznego dla rozwoju słuchowego dziecka z nie... more WstępDążenie do optymalnego wykorzystania okresu krytycznego dla rozwoju słuchowego dziecka z niedosłuchem rodzi potrzebę opracowania odpowiednich narzędzi, dostosowanych do oceny tego rozwoju u małych dzieci. Kluczowe znaczenie ma możliwość dokonywania pomiarów i porównywania wyników uzyskiwanych od pierwszych miesięcy życia.CelCelem pracy jest ocena rozwoju słuchowego dzieci z głębokim niedosłuchem, którym wszczepiono implant ślimakowy przed ukończeniem drugiego roku życia.Materiał i metodyMateriał badawczy stanowiło 122 dzieci, których średni wiek w chwili aktywacji implantu wynosił 14,3 miesiąca. Oceny rozwoju słuchowego dokonano na podstawie wyniku badania kwestionariuszem LittlEARS. Kwestionariusz wypełniali rodzice lub opiekunowie dzieci z badanej grupy. Badania przeprowadzono w dniu aktywacji implantu ślimakowego, dokonując tym samym oceny rozwoju słuchowego osiągniętego przed wszczepieniem implantu, oraz po około 5 miesiącach użytkowania systemu. Dodatkowo, na podstawie co ...
WstępOcena skuteczności technologii medycznej wymaga (wg schematu PICO) sprecyzowania kontekstu k... more WstępOcena skuteczności technologii medycznej wymaga (wg schematu PICO) sprecyzowania kontekstu klinicznego z uwzględnieniem populacji, w której dana interwencja ma być stosowana (P – ang. patient), zastosowanej interwencji (I – ang. intervention), jak również opisu komparatora(ów) (C – ang. comparator) oraz efektów zdrowotnych badań klinicznych (O – ang. outcome). U małych dzieci z niedosłuchem, będących w okresie największej plastyczności układu słuchowego, za kluczowe uznaje się umożliwienie dokonania takiej oceny już w pierwszych miesiącach po zastosowaniu określonej technologii.CelCelem pracy jest ocena skuteczności interwencji związanej ze stosowaniem implantu ślimakowego w grupie dzieci z głębokim niedosłuchem w wieku poniżej drugiego roku życia z wykorzystaniem kwestionariusza LittlEARS zgodnie ze schematem PICO.Materiał i metodyGrupę A, tj. badaną populację (P), stanowiło 32 dzieci, których wiek w dniu interwencji (I) – aktywacji implantu ślimakowego nie przekraczał 12 mies...
Fourteen single-sided deaf listeners fit with an MED-EL cochlear implant (CI) judged the similari... more Fourteen single-sided deaf listeners fit with an MED-EL cochlear implant (CI) judged the similarity of clean signals presented to their CI and modified signals presented to their normal-hearing ear. The signals to the normal-hearing ear were created by (a) filtering, (b) spectral smearing, (c) changing overall fundamental frequency (F0), (d) F0 contour flattening, (e) changing formant frequencies, (f) altering resonances and ring times to create a metallic sound quality, (g) using a noise vocoder, or (h) using a sine vocoder. The operations could be used singly or in any combination. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 was a complete match to the sound of the CI, the mean match score was 8.8. Over half of the matches were 9.0 or higher. The most common alterations to a clean signal were band-pass or low-pass filtering, spectral peak smearing, and F0 contour flattening. On average, 3.4 operations were used to create a match. Upshifts in formant frequencies were implemented most often for ...
Background: Due to the constant development of technology and medicine, the eligibility criteria ... more Background: Due to the constant development of technology and medicine, the eligibility criteria for cochlear implantation (CI) are undergoing gradual expansion. Objectives: To provide long-term hearing preservation (HP) results for partial deafness treatment (PDT) of a group of adults using electro-natural stimulation (ENS). Methods: We examined a database of medical records of patients who underwent CI in a single ENT center. We identified 12 adults (3 men and 9 women) who fitted the PDT-ENS classification. To calculate HP, we used the ÂHEARRING consensus and conducted statistical analyses using SPSS v24. Results: In the long-term follow-up, 7 of 12 patients had complete HP and the remaining 5 had partial HP. None of the patients experienced significant hearing impairment. A significant improvement in speech understanding in both quiet and noise conditions was also observed. Conclusions: The use of minimally invasive surgery leads to excellent HP results in PDT-ENS patients, enabl...
Objective:In cochlear implantation, there are two crucial factors promoting hearing preservation:... more Objective:In cochlear implantation, there are two crucial factors promoting hearing preservation: an atraumatic surgical approach and selection of an electrode that does not damage cochlear structures. This study aimed to evaluate hearing preservation in children implanted with the Nucleus Slim Straight (CI422) electrode.Methods:Nineteen children aged 6–18 years, with partial deafness, were implanted using the 6-step Skarzynski procedure. Electrode insertion depth was 20–25 mm. Hearing status was assessed with pure tone audiometry before surgery, and at 1, 5, 9, 12 and 24 months after surgery. Electrode placement was confirmed with computed tomography.Results:Mean hearing preservation in the study group at activation of the cochlear implant was 73 per cent (standard deviation = 37 per cent). After 24 months, it was 67 per cent (standard deviation = 45 per cent). On a categorical scale, hearing preservation was possible in 100 per cent of cases.Conclusion:Hearing preservation in chil...
This study compared the music perception abilities of 13 electric acoustic stimulation (EAS) user... more This study compared the music perception abilities of 13 electric acoustic stimulation (EAS) users with two control groups: unilateral cochlear implant (CI) users and normal-hearing (NH) listeners. Groups were matched according to age and musical experience before hearing loss (HL) and tested using the Musical Sounds in Cochlear Implants (Mu.S.I.C.) test. No difference was found on rhythm perception, chord discrimination, dissonance rating, and emotion rating subtest performance between groups. Mean frequency discrimination scores were significantly better in EAS participants than in CI participants and not significantly worse than in NH participants. However, the EAS and CI groups scored similarly (significantly worse than NH participants) on both instrument detection and identification. Results for EAS participants were not significantly worse when the hearing aid component was removed. Frequency of listening to music before HL was negatively correlated with EAS participants' ...
Polski merkuriusz lekarski : organ Polskiego Towarzystwa Lekarskiego, 2005
Introduction of implantable electronic prostheses to the clinical practice has created new possib... more Introduction of implantable electronic prostheses to the clinical practice has created new possibilities of hearing and language communication improvement. Currently implants of various types are used as prostheses implanted in the external ear, temporal bone, middle ear, inner ear and brain stem. Applying appropriate acoustic and electric stimulation they allow us to effectively improve auditory abilities and introduce born deaf patient to the world of sounds or bring back to the world postlingually deafened patient.
The results of this study demonstrate that a conversion from the Duet to Duet 2 audio processor g... more The results of this study demonstrate that a conversion from the Duet to Duet 2 audio processor greatly improved patient satisfaction and subjective benefits. The aims of this study were to compare the DUET 2 audio processor to the DUET speech processor and to evaluate DUET 2 user satisfaction subjectively. Ten experienced electric acoustic stimulation (EAS) users following partial deafness treatment upgraded from the MED-EL DUET to the DUET 2 were tested with the adaptive auditory speech test, Pruszewicz monosyllabic word test, visual analog scales, and Duet 2 user questionnaire. Tests were performed post-upgrade and compared simultaneously to the DUET at three test intervals over 3 months. Objective analyses showed that all subjects performed as well with the DUET 2 as the DUET. There was a tendency toward better results with the DUET 2. Subjective testing indicated DUET 2 user preference upon speech and musical stimuli. DUET 2 subject satisfaction was high for wearing comfort, sound quality, and for FineTuner and Private Alert features.
To date, objective measurements and psychophysical experiments have been used to measure frequenc... more To date, objective measurements and psychophysical experiments have been used to measure frequency dependent basilar membrane (BM) delays in humans; however, in vivo measurements have not been made. This study aimed to measure BM delays by performing intracochlear electrocochleography in cochlear implant recipients. Sixteen subjects with various degrees of hearing abilities were selected. Postoperative Computer Tomography was performed to determine electrode locations. Electrical potentials in response to acoustic tone pips at 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz and clicks were recorded with electrodes at the frequency specific region. The electrode array was inserted up to the characteristic cochlear frequency region of 250 Hz for 6 subjects. Furthermore, the array was inserted in the region of 500 Hz for 15 subjects, and 1, 2, and 4 kHz were reached in all subjects. Intracochlear electrocochleography for each frequency-specific tone pip and clicks showed detectable responses in all subject...
WprowadzenieNiepożądana stymulacja nerwu twarzowego, występująca sporadycznie u użytkowników impl... more WprowadzenieNiepożądana stymulacja nerwu twarzowego, występująca sporadycznie u użytkowników implantów ślimakowych, prowadzi do mimowolnego skurczu mięśni mimicznych twarzy wskutek rozpływu prądu stosowanego w celu wywołania wrażeń słuchowych. Wystąpienie pobudzenia nerwu twarzowego często prowadzi do konieczności ograniczenia poziomu stymulacji, co z kolei powoduje zbyt ciche słyszenie przez implant. Aby ograniczyć niepożądaną pozaakustyczną stymulację, firma Med-El zaproponowała modyfikację kształtu impulsów stymulujących.Materiał i metodyGrupa badana liczyła 6 dzieci w wieku od 6 do 15 roku życia, użytkowników systemu implantu ślimakowego firmy Med-El. Do badania wybrano pacjentów, u których zaobserwowano pobudzenie nerwu twarzowego podczas stymulacji przez implant ślimakowy, a jednocześnie potrafiących subiektywnie określić wrażenie głośności za pomocą skali kategorialnej. U każdego z nich wykonano skalowanie głośności, prowadząc stymulację przez pojedynczą elektrodę. Badanie wy...
Understanding speech in background noise is challenging. Wearing face-masks, imposed by the COVID... more Understanding speech in background noise is challenging. Wearing face-masks, imposed by the COVID19-pandemics, makes it even harder. We developed a multi-sensory setup, including a sensory substitution device (SSD) that can deliver speech simultaneously through audition and as vibrations on the fingertips. The vibrations correspond to low frequencies extracted from the speech input. We trained two groups of non-native English speakers in understanding distorted speech in noise. After a short session (30–45 min) of repeating sentences, with or without concurrent matching vibrations, we showed comparable mean group improvement of 14–16 dB in Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) in two test conditions, i.e., when the participants were asked to repeat sentences only from hearing and also when matching vibrations on fingertips were present. This is a very strong effect, if one considers that a 10 dB difference corresponds to doubling of the perceived loudness. The number of sentence repetiti...
Purpose The purpose of the study was to validate the AQoL-8D questionnaire in the adult populatio... more Purpose The purpose of the study was to validate the AQoL-8D questionnaire in the adult population of patients referred to an otolaryngology clinic. Methods AQoL-8D was translated into Polish. 463 patients (age18–80 years) with otolaryngological conditions were assessed with the AQoL-8D, SF-6D, and SWLS questionnaires. We investigated the item content-relevance, factor structure by means of Confirmatory Factor Analysis, corrected item-total correlations, Cronbach’s alpha, Pearson correlation of the AQoL-8D scores with results from SF-6D and from the SWLS questionnaires. Finally, ANOVA was used to test the AQoL-8D ability to group the HRQoL of patients in terms of their otolaryngological management type. Results The median score of item content-relevance was 5.0 for all AQoL-8D items. Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed the following fit indices: Comparative Fit Index = 0.81; Tucker–Lewis Index = 0.80; and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.07. Cronbach's alpha for AQo...
Understanding speech in background noise is challenging. Wearing face-masks during COVID19-pandem... more Understanding speech in background noise is challenging. Wearing face-masks during COVID19-pandemics made it even harder. We developed a multi-sensory setup, including a sensory substitution device (SSD) that can deliver speech simultaneously through audition and as vibrations on fingertips. After a short training session, participants significantly improved (16 out of 17) in speech-in-noise understanding, when added vibrations corresponded to low-frequencies extracted from the sentence. The level of understanding was maintained after training, when the loudness of the background noise doubled (mean group improvement of ~ 10 decibels). This result indicates that our solution can be very useful for the hearing-impaired patients. Even more interestingly, the improvement was transferred to a post-training situation when the touch input was removed, showing that we can apply the setup for auditory rehabilitation in cochlear implant-users. Future wearable implementations of our SSD can a...
W pracy przedstawiono podstawy teoretyczne tworzenia i walidacji narzędzi ankietowych. Najważniej... more W pracy przedstawiono podstawy teoretyczne tworzenia i walidacji narzędzi ankietowych. Najważniejsze etapy tego procesu: zdefiniowanie badanego problemu, przygotowanie pozycji testowych, określenie formatu odpowiedzi, standaryzacja, walidacja i normalizacja zostały omówione na przykładzie kwestionariusza LittlEARS.
WstępDążenie do optymalnego wykorzystania okresu krytycznego dla rozwoju słuchowego dziecka z nie... more WstępDążenie do optymalnego wykorzystania okresu krytycznego dla rozwoju słuchowego dziecka z niedosłuchem rodzi potrzebę opracowania odpowiednich narzędzi, dostosowanych do oceny tego rozwoju u małych dzieci. Kluczowe znaczenie ma możliwość dokonywania pomiarów i porównywania wyników uzyskiwanych od pierwszych miesięcy życia.CelCelem pracy jest ocena rozwoju słuchowego dzieci z głębokim niedosłuchem, którym wszczepiono implant ślimakowy przed ukończeniem drugiego roku życia.Materiał i metodyMateriał badawczy stanowiło 122 dzieci, których średni wiek w chwili aktywacji implantu wynosił 14,3 miesiąca. Oceny rozwoju słuchowego dokonano na podstawie wyniku badania kwestionariuszem LittlEARS. Kwestionariusz wypełniali rodzice lub opiekunowie dzieci z badanej grupy. Badania przeprowadzono w dniu aktywacji implantu ślimakowego, dokonując tym samym oceny rozwoju słuchowego osiągniętego przed wszczepieniem implantu, oraz po około 5 miesiącach użytkowania systemu. Dodatkowo, na podstawie co ...
WstępOcena skuteczności technologii medycznej wymaga (wg schematu PICO) sprecyzowania kontekstu k... more WstępOcena skuteczności technologii medycznej wymaga (wg schematu PICO) sprecyzowania kontekstu klinicznego z uwzględnieniem populacji, w której dana interwencja ma być stosowana (P – ang. patient), zastosowanej interwencji (I – ang. intervention), jak również opisu komparatora(ów) (C – ang. comparator) oraz efektów zdrowotnych badań klinicznych (O – ang. outcome). U małych dzieci z niedosłuchem, będących w okresie największej plastyczności układu słuchowego, za kluczowe uznaje się umożliwienie dokonania takiej oceny już w pierwszych miesiącach po zastosowaniu określonej technologii.CelCelem pracy jest ocena skuteczności interwencji związanej ze stosowaniem implantu ślimakowego w grupie dzieci z głębokim niedosłuchem w wieku poniżej drugiego roku życia z wykorzystaniem kwestionariusza LittlEARS zgodnie ze schematem PICO.Materiał i metodyGrupę A, tj. badaną populację (P), stanowiło 32 dzieci, których wiek w dniu interwencji (I) – aktywacji implantu ślimakowego nie przekraczał 12 mies...
Fourteen single-sided deaf listeners fit with an MED-EL cochlear implant (CI) judged the similari... more Fourteen single-sided deaf listeners fit with an MED-EL cochlear implant (CI) judged the similarity of clean signals presented to their CI and modified signals presented to their normal-hearing ear. The signals to the normal-hearing ear were created by (a) filtering, (b) spectral smearing, (c) changing overall fundamental frequency (F0), (d) F0 contour flattening, (e) changing formant frequencies, (f) altering resonances and ring times to create a metallic sound quality, (g) using a noise vocoder, or (h) using a sine vocoder. The operations could be used singly or in any combination. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 was a complete match to the sound of the CI, the mean match score was 8.8. Over half of the matches were 9.0 or higher. The most common alterations to a clean signal were band-pass or low-pass filtering, spectral peak smearing, and F0 contour flattening. On average, 3.4 operations were used to create a match. Upshifts in formant frequencies were implemented most often for ...
Background: Due to the constant development of technology and medicine, the eligibility criteria ... more Background: Due to the constant development of technology and medicine, the eligibility criteria for cochlear implantation (CI) are undergoing gradual expansion. Objectives: To provide long-term hearing preservation (HP) results for partial deafness treatment (PDT) of a group of adults using electro-natural stimulation (ENS). Methods: We examined a database of medical records of patients who underwent CI in a single ENT center. We identified 12 adults (3 men and 9 women) who fitted the PDT-ENS classification. To calculate HP, we used the ÂHEARRING consensus and conducted statistical analyses using SPSS v24. Results: In the long-term follow-up, 7 of 12 patients had complete HP and the remaining 5 had partial HP. None of the patients experienced significant hearing impairment. A significant improvement in speech understanding in both quiet and noise conditions was also observed. Conclusions: The use of minimally invasive surgery leads to excellent HP results in PDT-ENS patients, enabl...
Objective:In cochlear implantation, there are two crucial factors promoting hearing preservation:... more Objective:In cochlear implantation, there are two crucial factors promoting hearing preservation: an atraumatic surgical approach and selection of an electrode that does not damage cochlear structures. This study aimed to evaluate hearing preservation in children implanted with the Nucleus Slim Straight (CI422) electrode.Methods:Nineteen children aged 6–18 years, with partial deafness, were implanted using the 6-step Skarzynski procedure. Electrode insertion depth was 20–25 mm. Hearing status was assessed with pure tone audiometry before surgery, and at 1, 5, 9, 12 and 24 months after surgery. Electrode placement was confirmed with computed tomography.Results:Mean hearing preservation in the study group at activation of the cochlear implant was 73 per cent (standard deviation = 37 per cent). After 24 months, it was 67 per cent (standard deviation = 45 per cent). On a categorical scale, hearing preservation was possible in 100 per cent of cases.Conclusion:Hearing preservation in chil...
This study compared the music perception abilities of 13 electric acoustic stimulation (EAS) user... more This study compared the music perception abilities of 13 electric acoustic stimulation (EAS) users with two control groups: unilateral cochlear implant (CI) users and normal-hearing (NH) listeners. Groups were matched according to age and musical experience before hearing loss (HL) and tested using the Musical Sounds in Cochlear Implants (Mu.S.I.C.) test. No difference was found on rhythm perception, chord discrimination, dissonance rating, and emotion rating subtest performance between groups. Mean frequency discrimination scores were significantly better in EAS participants than in CI participants and not significantly worse than in NH participants. However, the EAS and CI groups scored similarly (significantly worse than NH participants) on both instrument detection and identification. Results for EAS participants were not significantly worse when the hearing aid component was removed. Frequency of listening to music before HL was negatively correlated with EAS participants' ...
Polski merkuriusz lekarski : organ Polskiego Towarzystwa Lekarskiego, 2005
Introduction of implantable electronic prostheses to the clinical practice has created new possib... more Introduction of implantable electronic prostheses to the clinical practice has created new possibilities of hearing and language communication improvement. Currently implants of various types are used as prostheses implanted in the external ear, temporal bone, middle ear, inner ear and brain stem. Applying appropriate acoustic and electric stimulation they allow us to effectively improve auditory abilities and introduce born deaf patient to the world of sounds or bring back to the world postlingually deafened patient.
The results of this study demonstrate that a conversion from the Duet to Duet 2 audio processor g... more The results of this study demonstrate that a conversion from the Duet to Duet 2 audio processor greatly improved patient satisfaction and subjective benefits. The aims of this study were to compare the DUET 2 audio processor to the DUET speech processor and to evaluate DUET 2 user satisfaction subjectively. Ten experienced electric acoustic stimulation (EAS) users following partial deafness treatment upgraded from the MED-EL DUET to the DUET 2 were tested with the adaptive auditory speech test, Pruszewicz monosyllabic word test, visual analog scales, and Duet 2 user questionnaire. Tests were performed post-upgrade and compared simultaneously to the DUET at three test intervals over 3 months. Objective analyses showed that all subjects performed as well with the DUET 2 as the DUET. There was a tendency toward better results with the DUET 2. Subjective testing indicated DUET 2 user preference upon speech and musical stimuli. DUET 2 subject satisfaction was high for wearing comfort, sound quality, and for FineTuner and Private Alert features.
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