Effect of cochlear implantation in patients with single-sided deafness.

Abstract

　Patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) often experience difficulties in hearing and have a reduced quality of life. In Europe, cochlear implantation is already performed for patients with SSD. We performed cochlear implantation in five patients with SSD from four facilities. We diagnosed one case of SSD at our department. Speech perception in noise, sound localization and tinnitus suppression with improved binaural hearing were observed four years after the cochlear implantation. We hope that cochlear implantation would come to be accepted in the future for enabling binaural hearing in patients with SSD.