Evaluation of a Totally Implantable Cochlear Implant in Adults With Bilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss: A Feasibility Study.
Robert Briggs, Sylvia Tari, Alexandra Rousset and 3 others
PMID 41243136WHAT IT FOUND
Ten adults with severe hearing loss used a totally implantable cochlear implant that worked without an external processor.
Both invisible and standard modes significantly improved speech understanding compared to hearing aids, though the invisible mode performed slightly worse in quiet. Two devices failed due to microphone issues.
Key findings
01In invisible hearing mode, mean word scores improved from 1.9% at baseline to 27.1% at six months, and sentence scores in noise improved from 2.8% to 67.3%.
02Standard external processor mode provided better speech perception than invisible mode, with a mean difference of 12.7% for words in quiet and 10.3% for sentences in noise at six months.
03Two participants experienced device failures requiring explantation and reimplantation with a conventional device, caused by microphone insulation failure.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Small sample size (n=10) limits generalizability. Single-arm feasibility study with no control group. High dropout rate for 12-month speech testing (only 7 participants). Device failures occurred in 20% of participants (2/10), exceeding expected rates. The study did not compare IH mode directly to conventional cochlear implants in a controlled trial. Battery life and long-term durability remain uncertain.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Hearing CRC and Cochlear Ltd. Two authors are employees of Cochlear Ltd, and one author is a consultant to Cochlear Ltd.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the significant improvement in invisible hearing mode as equivalent to standard external processor mode. Speech perception was consistently lower in invisible mode, and two devices failed due to microphone issues, requiring reimplantation. This is an investigational device not yet approved for clinical use.
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 →