Low-Frequency Hearing Preservation With Long Electrode Arrays: Inclusion of Unaided Hearing Threshold Assessment in the Postoperative Test Battery.
Margaret T Dillon, Emily Buss, Brendan P O'Connell and 7 others
PMID 31835906WHAT IT FOUND
Cochlear implant recipients with preoperative low-frequency hearing often lost 125-Hz response at activation, but some later thresholds improved into the EAS fitting range.
Testing only at activation can miss candidates.
Key findings
01At initial cochlear implant activation, unaided 125-Hz thresholds were significantly elevated compared with preoperative thresholds, and 16 participants had no response.
02Nine participants maintained 125-Hz thresholds of 95 dB HL or better at activation; across postactivation intervals, their thresholds did not change significantly overall.
03By 12 months, EAS fitting was indicated for six participants, including three who would not have been identified if unaided thresholds were measured only at activation.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only 25 participants were evaluated, and hearing preservation was not the primary aim of the cochlear implant trial. All participants received the same long electrode array and were fitted with CI-alone devices, so the results may not apply to other arrays or to patients fitted with EAS from the start. Some participants withdrew or had missing data at 9 and 12 months. Small threshold changes of 5 to 10 dB may be measurement error. The authors describe the results as preliminary.
Declared interests
The clinical trial was supported by a research grant from MED-EL Corporation, the company named for the standard electrode array used.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that long electrode arrays reliably preserve hearing. In this report, 16 participants had no 125-Hz response at initial activation, and the authors state hearing preservation was not the primary aim and the results are preliminary.