NEW Audiology Online course: Benefits Afforded by Precurved Electrode Arrays: Speech and Auditory Perception for Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients

A group of 25 leading clinicians in unilateral hearing loss (UHL)/single-sided deafness (SSD) gathered for a one-day follow-up meeting. Representing 21 U.S. clinics, attendees included surgeons, audiologists, psychologists, and research scientists. Doctors Kevin Brown and Daniel Zeitler moderated the event.

This meeting built upon the inaugural gathering held in December 2021, also led by Dr. Brown. The original meeting took place prior to the January 2022 SSD indication approval.

The objectives of the meeting were:

• Assess the adequacy of our current clinical guidelines:
  • Identify areas where the guidelines might need to be revised​
  • If revisions are necessary, gain alignment on the revised guidelines​
• Understand the use of terminology, SSD versus asymmetrical hearing loss (AHL)
• Assess the impact on the market from the SSD indication approximately 2 years after approval and share new scientific data that deepens the understanding of this unique population

The agenda comprised a mix of scientific presentations and panel discussions.  The professionals were highly engaged and provided excellent feedback.  Some key takeaways included:

• The SSD treatment pathway guidance for adults needs to be revised to include more emphasis on choosing the right patient, counseling (patient expectations/goals, patient motivation) and the importance of aural rehabilitation
• The pre- and post-implant evaluation protocol needs to be updated to align with the MSTB-3 recommendations.  The primary metric to evaluate speech understanding in noise should be the AZBio sentences at a fixed signal to noise ratio (SNR) with an alternative metric the BKB-SIN
• The post implant evaluation schedule should be updated to the Initial Activation, 1-, 3- and 12-month intervals
• The current whitepaper, Clinical Recommendations for the Treatment of Unilateral Hearing Loss/Single Sided Deafness with Cochlear Implantation, needs to be updated to include the recommendations of the group
• A separate “tiger team” should be formed to address pediatric considerations in the SSD population

With a consensus on revised guidance for evaluating and treating patients with unilateral hearing loss / single-sided deafness, updated professional resources will be available from Cochlear in the coming months.  Click here to learn more about treatment options for single-sided deafness.