Cochlear Implants
by Jamie Schwartz

An Expert’s Opinion: Nucleus® Hearing Tracker

June 21, 2018
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TECH Talks

Dr. Dana Suskind, cochlear implant surgeon and author of Thirty Million Words, discusses the importance of a language-rich environment for children; including those with hearing loss and those who use cochlear implants. Dr. Suskind explains that implanting a child with a cochlear implant is the first step to hearing; however, a rich language environment is vital for allowing the child to reach their full hearing, speech and academic potential.

Hear from Dr. Suskind about the new feature with the Cochlear™ Nucleus® 7 Sound Processor and the Nucleus® Smart App called, Hearing Tracker. With Hearing Tracker, Dr. Suskind says, “Parents are going to have the power, within their own hands, to see the language environment their children are going to be exposed to. And then, impact it!”

Hearing Tracker records and displays data on a bar graph that is easy for the recipient, or parents, to interpret. This function tracks and plots the following factors separately per side:

  • Time in Speech – refers to the amount of time during a day that the recipient is in an environment that contains speech.
  • Coil Offs – refers to the number of times in a day the sound processor coil is disconnected from the patient’s implant.

Watch the new TECH Talks video from Dr. Dana Suskind and stay tuned for additional TECH Talks from other industry experts.

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Author

Jamie Schwartz

Jamie is the Associate Marketing Manager in the Product and Professional Marketing Department at Cochlear Americas. Jamie is responsible for ProNews blog content as well as professional social posts and calendars. If you are interested in being a guest author for the ProNews blog please contact Jamie by email at jschwartz@cochlear.com.

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Nucleus 7 Sound Processor

New research shows benefits of using advanced technology

January 27, 2022

Give your patients access to significantly better sound

Hearing in a noisy world remains one of the biggest challenges for cochlear implant recipients. Speech recognition nearly always involves listening in background noise, often with dynamic sources and different presentation levels.1

In a new real-world study, recipients found speech to be significantly clearer in everyday listening environments when they upgraded their current Cochlear™ SPrint™, ESPrit™, Freedom®, Nucleus® 5 or Nucleus 6 Sound Processor to the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor.2

Superior speech recognition benefits

In real-world acoustic environments, where competing dynamic noise originates from the sides and behind the listener, the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor with ForwardFocus† enabled, provided on average a 7.54 dB superior speech recognition benefit^ compared to the participants’ current sound processor, when used with their preferred program for listening in noise every day.2

Significant self-perceived benefits

The Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale3-5 (SSQ-12*) questionnaire self-perceived results showed that the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor provided significant benefit compared with the participants’ existing sound processors in their daily listening environments.2

Our most advanced sound processing technology

The Nucleus 7 Sound Processor features:

  • SmartSound® iQ with SCAN using dual microphone technology, designed to help your patients automatically hear better in a range of challenging environments. ∞
  • ForwardFocus is designed to reduce distracting noise from behind, making it easier for your patients to focus on face-to-face conversation. †

By accessing a next generation Nucleus 7 Sound Processor, your patients can benefit from advances in technology that help them enjoy clearer conversation, even in challenging and noisy listening environments.

To find out more about the patient benefits of upgrading to the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor, visit our website.

1 Hey M, Hocke T, Böhnke B, Mauger SJ. ForwardFocus with cochlear implant recipients in spatially separated and fluctuating competing signals – introduction of a reference metric. Int J Audiol. 2019;58(12):869-878.

2 Zhang J, Morgan C, Deng XC, Wang Y, Lee M.  Hearing Performance Outcomes in Cochlear Implant Users after Nucleus® 7 Sound Processor Fitting. ACI Alliance Conference Poster. April 2021.

3 Gatehouse S, Noble W. The Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ). Int J Audiol. 2004;43(2):85–99.
4 Noble W, Jen-sen NS, Naylor G, Bhullar N, Akeroyd MA. A short form of the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing scale suitable for clinical use: the SSQ12. Int J Audiol. 2013 Jun; 52(6): 409–412.
5 Liu J, Zhang J, Wang N, Li H, Fu X, Guo X, Fu L. Validation of the Chinese Translation of Speech, Spatial and Other Qualities of Hearing Scale for Parents. CN J. Otol. 2021; April In press. DOI: 10.3969 / j. issn. 1672-2922.2018

* Adults used Adult SSQ-12 and Children used P-SSQ-12. References 3-5.

^ Measured as a group mean SRT improvement.

† ForwardFocus can only be enabled by a hearing implant specialist. It should only be activated for users 12 years and older who are able to reliably provide feedback on sound quality and understand how to use the feature when moving to different or changing environments.  It may be possible to have decreased speech understanding when using ForwardFocus in a quiet environment.

∞SNR-NR, WNR and SCAN are approved for use with any recipient ages 6 years and older who is able to 1) complete objective speech perception testing in quiet and in noise in order to determine and document performance 2) report a preference for different program settings.

In this study, Mandarin-speaking Chinese recipients were assessed using their current sound processor (ESPrit™, Sprint™, Freedom®, Nucleus 5 and Nucleus 6) then again after up to one-month use with the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor.

Dr. Jace Wolfe

New TECH Talk: Early implantation and its impact on language development

June 11, 2020

In March 2020 the FDA approved the first expansion of pediatric indications in 20 years. Dr. Jace Wolfe, Director of Audiology and Research at the Hearts for Hearing Foundation in Oklahoma City, analyzes the benefits of early implantation and its impact on brain development.

Wolfe highlights Jaime Leigh’s study1 that suggests the need to mitigate delay in implantation. For example, if a young child is implanted, that child can parallel one year of language progress in one calendar year without falling behind their peers.  

On the other hand, if a child with severe to profound hearing loss waits to be implanted, he or she can only make three months of progress for every calendar year without a cochlear implant.

Wolfe continues by addressing the variability in cochlear implant recipient outcomes. According to Leigh, age accounts for 67% in variability of outcomes in children with hearing loss.1 So, implanting as early as possible can be key, especially as pediatric patients reach hearing and language milestones.

Through partnership together we can reach further to give pediatric patients the progress and possibilities that come with early access to sound.

Why wait? Watch now to learn more about earlier implantation!

To learn more about early implantation visit our TECH Talks page or website.

References:

  1. Leigh, J.R., Dettman, S.J., & Dowell, R.C. (2016). Evidence-based guidelines for recommending cochlear implantation for young children: audiological criteria and optimizing age at implantation. International Journal of Audiology, 55, S9-S18.  

In the US, the cochlear implant system is intended for use in children 9 to 24 months of age who have bilateral profound sensorineural deafness and demonstrate limited benefit from appropriate binaural hearing aids. Children two years of age or older may demonstrate severe to profound hearing loss bilaterally. In Canada, the cochlear implant system is intended for use in children 12 to 24 months of age who have bilateral profound sensorineural deafness and demonstrate limited benefit from appropriate binaural hearing aids. Children two years of age or older may demonstrate severe to profound hearing loss bilaterally.

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