Benefits From Bimodal Fittings With Cochlear Implant and Hearing Aid vs Bilateral Hearing Aids

Hearing-aid (HA) users with insufficient HA may be better helped with a "Bimodal solution" when replacing the HA with a Cochlear implant (CI) to the poorer hearing ear and a HA to the better hearing ear. This randomised controlled trial can show the benefit in terms of better speech perception of the bimodal solution with CI to the poorest hearing ear compared to binaural hearing aids. It can clarify if HAs users with insufficient HAs benefit will benefit from the bimodal solution when adding a CI to the poorer hearing ear in terms of better speech perception. It can report the degree of perceived hearing handicap in bimodal CI-users versus bilateral HA-users by hearing -specific patient reported outcome measures (PROM) questionnaires. And it can contribute to a specific cochlear implant candidacy criterion related to the transition from HA treatment to the CI treatment. The purpose of this study is to determine if bimodal treatment with a hearing aid to the better hearing ear and CI to the poorer hearing ear increases the ability to understand speech and improve quality of life compared to patients that are treated with hearing aids only. The benefit of bimodal fittings compared to the best possible bilateral HA treatment will be evaluated.