Fig. 1.

Study outline. During phase 1, participants combine their CI rehabilitation with exposure to both an experimental and a standard fitting program. This distribution is based on a daily randomized scheme in the first 3 months, after which an equal period of free choice is incorporated. Patients who continue to use a contralateral hearing aid will receive experimental hearing aid fitting in phase 2. During phase 3, a clinical fit will be performed for both CI and hearing aid based on indicated preferences obtained during the study period for either experimental or standard settings