CROSS-OVER STUDY FOR EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGY HIRES 120 IN NEW USERS
Brendel M (1,2), Buechner A (1), Saalfeld H (1), Frohne-Buechner C (1,2), Lenarz T (1).
(1) Medical University of Hannover, Department of Otolaryngology, Hannover, Germany; (2) Advanced Bionics GmbH, Hannover, Germany.
Background: Advanced Bionics introduced the novel sound processing strategy called HiRes Fidelity 120 (commonly known as HiRes 120) to the European market. HiRes 120 processes the signal in 120 virtual channels to improve the frequency resolution and is now supported by the behind-the-ear processor Harmony.
Aims: This cross-over study investigated the subject’s performance with HiRes and HiRes 120 strategy on the Harmony sound processor from the first fitting onwards.
Method: 23 subjects with a HiRes90K implant system were enrolled in the study. The participants were divided into two subgroups: Group I started with HiRes and Group II with HiRes 120. Every three months, subjects were converted to the other strategy, respectively. Evaluations were performed prior to each strategy change via speech perception tests, psychophysical tests and questionnaires.
Results: Fourteen subjects have already passed their 6-months appointment. Subjects in Group I showed an average improvement of 16% in their speech understanding using the HSM sentence test in noise (10dB SNR) between their 3-month appointment with HiRes and 6-months appointment with HiRes 120. Group II improved by only 8% on the same test between the 3-months appointment with HiRes120 and 6-months appointment with HiRes.
Conclusions: When switched from HiRes to HiRes 120, Group I showed results which were better than expected due to the learning effect only. Group II showed results less than the expected learning effect, after being switched from HiRes 120 to HiRes. These results indicate a benefit for speech understanding in noise with HiRes 120 compared to the standard Hires. HiRes 120 did not reveal any specific difficulties when used from first fitting onwards.
E-mail: martinab@abionics.fr
