Electrode deactivation in cochlear implant users: impact on speech perception and objective measures.
Carlos Alberto Conceição Santana Júnior, Júlia Speranza Zabeu Fernandes, Luiz Fernando Manzoni Lourençone
Deactivating one or a few cochlear implant electrodes did not change speech recognition in quiet or in noise for 46 users.
However, impedance readings worsened afterward, so check device function after any deactivation.
Key findings
1Speech recognition in quiet and in noise did not significantly change after electrode deactivation (p = 0.188 in quiet; p = 0.604 in noise at SNR +10 dB), so the primary outcome was null.
2The proportion of electrodes with altered impedance rose from 2.2% to 13.0% after deactivation (p = 0.009), a significant change in device electrical behaviour.
3The number of deactivated electrodes showed weak negative correlations with post-deactivation thresholds at 1,000 Hz (r = –0.289) and 4,000 Hz (r = –0.325), which the authors describe as having limited clinical effect.
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What it does not show
Retrospective chart review with a small sample of 46, limiting generalisability and statistical power. Single institution, so the findings reflect one centre's practice and patient mix. The sample mixed prelingual and postlingual users, ages 10 to 65, and three device manufacturers, and no subgroup comparisons were made, so effects specific to any one group are invisible. Speech recognition was tested only at a favourable signal-to-noise ratio (+10 dB), which may mask subtle changes that would appear in noisier, more everyday listening conditions. The interval between pre- and post-deactivation assessments varied widely across participants, introducing uncontrolled variability. No subjective measures (quality-of-life questionnaires, user-perception scales) were collected, so the patient's own experience of the change is unknown. Some medical records were incomplete, leaving gaps in certain variables.
Declared interests
The authors declared no financial support and no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the null speech-recognition result as proof that deactivating electrodes is always safe and free of cost — the sample was small (46), heterogeneous across age, language profile, and manufacturer, and tested at a favourable signal-to-noise ratio (+10 dB), while impedance alterations increased significantly (2.2% to 13.0%, p = 0.009), meaning device function can deteriorate after deactivation and must be monitored.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →