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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Neuroprosthetics
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1491954
This article is part of the Research Topic Trends in Digital Hearing Health and Computational Audiology View all 12 articles

Virtual Reality Games for Spatial Hearing Training in Children and Young People with Bilateral Cochlear Implants: The BEARS (Both Ears) Approach

Provisionally accepted
Bhavisha J Parmar Bhavisha J Parmar 1,2*Marina Salorio-Corbetto Marina Salorio-Corbetto 1Lorenzo Picinali Lorenzo Picinali 3Merle Mahon Merle Mahon 4Ruth Nightingale Ruth Nightingale 4Sarah Somerset Sarah Somerset 5,6Helen Cullington Helen Cullington 7Sandra Driver Sandra Driver 8Christine Rocca Christine Rocca 8Dan Jiang Dan Jiang 8,9Deborah Vickers Deborah Vickers 1
  • 1 SOUND lab, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
  • 2 Ear Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
  • 3 Dyson School of Design Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 4 Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 5 Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 6 School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK, Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 7 University of Southampton Auditory Implant Service (USAIS), Southampton, United Kingdom
  • 8 St Thomas' Hearing Implant Centre, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, London, United Kingdom
  • 9 Centre for Craniofacial and Regenerative Biology, Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, King’s College London, London, England, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Spatial hearing relies on the encoding of perceptual sound location cues in space. It is critical for communicating in background noise, and understanding where sounds are coming from (sound localisation). Although there are some monoaural spatial hearing cues (i.e. from one ear), most of our spatial hearing skills require binaural hearing (i.e. from two ears). Cochlear implants (CIs) are often the most appropriate rehabilitation for individuals with severe-to-profound hearing loss, with those aged 18 years of age and younger typically receiving bilateral implants (one in each ear). As experience with bilateral hearing increases, individuals tend to improve their spatial hearing skills. Extensive research demonstrates that training can enhance sound localisation, speech understanding in noise, and music perception.The BEARS (Both EARS) approach utilizes Virtual Reality (VR) games specifically designed for young people with bilateral CIs to train and improve spatial hearing skills. This paper outlines the BEARS approach by: i) emphasising the need for more robust and engaging rehabilitation techniques, ii) presenting the BEARS logic model that underpins the intervention, and iii) detailing the assessment tools that will be employed in a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of BEARS in alignment with the logic model.

    Keywords: Audiology, cochlear implant, spatial hearing, auditory training, sound localisation, Speech Perception, Paediatric Audiology, Deafness (Hearing loss)

    Received: 05 Sep 2024; Accepted: 23 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Parmar, Salorio-Corbetto, Picinali, Mahon, Nightingale, Somerset, Cullington, Driver, Rocca, Jiang and Vickers. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Bhavisha J Parmar, SOUND lab, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1TN, England, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.