bimodal fitting
A hearing rehabilitation configuration in which one ear is fitted with a cochlear implant and the contralateral ear is fitted with a conventional hearing aid, allowing simultaneous electrical and acoustic stimulation across the two ears.
Full Definition
Bimodal fitting is used for patients with a unilateral cochlear implant who retain sufficient residual hearing in the non-implanted ear to benefit from acoustic amplification. The approach leverages binaural hearing cues to improve sound localisation and speech understanding in noise beyond what either device provides alone. Research consistently demonstrates that bimodal users outperform cochlear implant-only users on spatial hearing tasks. Editors should be careful not to conflate bimodal fitting with electric-acoustic stimulation (EAS), in which both modalities are delivered to the same ear.
Usage
Usage note: Clarify whether stimulation is ipsilateral (EAS) or contralateral (bimodal) when describing combined electric and acoustic strategies. Hyphenate as a compound modifier before a noun.
In Context
- "Bimodal fitting resulted in significantly better sentence recognition in noise compared with the cochlear implant alone." — Clinical outcomes research article
- "The audiologist recommended bimodal fitting, pairing the right-ear implant with a behind-the-ear hearing aid on the left." — Rehabilitation plan documentation