William House Cochlear Implant Study Group: Position Statement on Bilateral Cochlear Implantation

During the past three decades, unilateral cochlear implantation (CI) has been established as an accepted medical treatment for selected individuals with advanced degrees of sensorineural hearing loss. More recently, a growing number of patients have received bilateral CI, and a developing body of literature has demonstrated a significant additional benefit from 2 implants. In turn, this has generated increasing public interest in bilateral CI. Naturally, third-party payers and governmental agencies have sought evidence to justify bilateral CI. In response, the William House Cochlear Implant Study Group (CISG) critically examined putative additional benefits of bilateral implantation. The pertinent literature (1-22) was reviewed, and the following position statement was written during a period of several months by an ad hoc committee. It was then discussed at the September 15, 2007 CISG annual meeting of approximately 250 CI professionals. Several improvements were incorporated, and the statement below was recirculated and approved by consensus. Nonetheless, further research is necessary to clarify the usefulness of binaural mechanisms in patients with bilateral CIs and those with combined electrical and contra-lateral acoustic hearing.