References
Audiological Aspects
Can add gain to the good ear
1. "CROS hearing aids transmit the sound from a microphone placed at the impaired ear to an amplifier and a receiver positioned at the normal ear. As there is no need for surgery, it is easily available in [unilateral sensorineural hearing loss] patients. " (Ryu et al. 2014)
2. "BiCROS hearing aids also provide appropriate amplification for the functioning ear when the better ear has hearing loss. "
Audiological Aspects
Benefit for speech in noise
(depending on direction of masking noise)
1. "The primary benefit associated with the use of implantable or non-surgical cross-hearing devices is enhanced signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in noisy and reverberant spaces, especially when the primary speech signal and background noise are spatially separated"
2. "The primary benefits realized from CROS hearing devices are improved sound awareness from the impaired side and better hearing in noise when speech is located at impaired side."
More: Wazen et al. 2003, Hol et al. 2004, 2009, Niparko et al.2003, Finbow et al.
Audiological Aspects
Reduction of the head shadow effect
1. (...) rerouting of signal does not result in restoration of binaural function, but serves to reduce the head-shadow effect." (Snapp et al. 2017)
2. "As a result, lifting the negative effect of head shadow on monaural hearing as well as providing sound awareness of both sides of the head can be possible, and consequently enhancing spatial balance and speech perception ability in noise." (Ryu et al. 2014)
Medical Aspects
Non invasive / skin intact
1. "... CROS hearing aids offer a nonsurgical option to compensate for some of the deficits that occur when a listener is limited to a single ear." (Snapp 2019)
2. "The CROS system transmit sound signals from the impaired ear via a wire (or wireless) to a microphone in the better ear.
Compared to Cl, it is relatively inexpensive and non-invasive (
...)" (Cho et al. 2020)
3. To benefit from CROS hearing aids, no surgery is necessary and therefor in all situations the skin stays intact. (HEARRING consensus)
More: Bishop et al. 2010
Medical Aspects
Trial period possible
1. "As CROS hearing aids are a non-invasive solution, patients can easily try the device according to their needs. (HEARRING consensus)
Medical Aspects
MRI safe
1. As CROS hearing aids are a non-invasive solution, only the removal of the device is necessary to undergo MRI. (HEARRING consensus)
Patient-reported Aspects
Subjective speech communication
1. " (...) noninvasive CROS solutions can successfully rehabilitate certain monaural listening deficits, provide improved hearing outcomes, and expand the reach of treatment in this population." (Snapp et al. 2017)
More: Peters et al. 2015