UNC Cochlear Implant Research

01/22/2026

: Swipe to see some of our essential tools for fitting electric-acoustic stimulation devices! 🦻🏿👂🏽

01/16/2026

: Dillon and colleagues (2015) found that cochlear implant (CI) users with residual hearing performed better on speech recognition tests when using electric-acoustic stimulation (EAS) compared to electric-only stimulation, and that adding a contralateral hearing aid further improved performance in certain listening situations. 🦻🏾🦻🏿

📄: https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2015_AJA-15-0022

01/07/2026

: “Hearing hours percentage” is a metric used to calculate device wear time for pediatric cochlear implant recipients. Swipe to learn more about how we use this metric for counseling. 🦻🏿

📄: https://pubs.asha.org/doi/abs/10.1044/2024_AJA-24-00023

12/30/2025

Learning alongside our research participants is the sweetest way to wrap up the year! 👂🏽🦻🏾

12/16/2025

Juni is a research participant in a study investigating the effectiveness of individualized cochlear implant mapping. Read her story, as featured in our quarterly newsletter, here. 🐏🦻🏾

If you’re interested in hearing about other participant experiences in addition to updates from our team on recruiting studies and study findings, please register to join our mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/dKLiok

12/04/2025

Investigating for cochlear implantation looks like… understanding the benefits of binaural hearing in older adults. 🦻🏾🌀

11/25/2025

The Annual UNC Cochlear Implantation Simulation Lab is attended by AuD graduate students in Dr. Dillon’s CI signal coding course, UNC SOM students, as well as UNC OHNS residents and neurotology fellow. This lab is a fun opportunity to collaborate and learn across professional disciplines! 👂🏽🐏

Thank you to MED-EL USA for this training opportunity.

11/25/2025

We are thankful for: Research Participants

Their time & energy participating in clinical research creates positive changes for other children & adults with hearing loss. 🩵

11/24/2025

: Several members of the UNC Ear and Hearing Team attended the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association’s 2025 Convention in Washington, D.C. 🐏

🦻🏿Gigi Rowland, a graduate research assistant, presented a poster on patterns in spread of excitation and benefits with individualized mapping procedures. She also received a meritorious poster award for this work.
👂🏽Sarah Spencer ( ) discussed approaches to listening and spoken language tele-therapy, and special considerations for children with single-sided deafness.

11/24/2025

Two pediatric research participants share their hearing journey stories!

”…with my old hearing aid I could hear 3 inches and with my Bonebridge I can hear 100 inches!” Lily and Kenzie are two young research participants taking part in a study evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the MED-EL Bonebridge system in pediatric patients — specifically, children imp...

11/21/2025

: Drs. Brown, Dillon, and Overton shared data during the 2025 HEARRING meeting in Shizuoka, Japan.

🦻🏻 Dr. Brown moderated a panel discussion on adult hearing screening protocols.
🦻🏿 Dr. Dillon shared data on the benefits of individualizing EAS device programming, moderated a panel on single-sided deafness, and contributed to a panel discussion on counseling strategies.
🦻🏾 Dr. Overton shared a case presentation on the importance of knowing etiology of hearing loss.