The Relationship Between Impedance, Programming and Word Recognition in a Large Clinical Dataset of Cochlear Implant Recipients.
Benjamin Caswell-Midwinter, Elizabeth M Doney, Meisam K Arjmandi and 3 others
PMID 35018875WHAT IT FOUND
In adults with cochlear implants, uneven electrical resistance at the base of the implant predicted poorer word recognition, while age and experience did too.
Current steering strategies offered no word recognition advantage over standard processing.
Key findings
01Greater variation in basal impedance was associated with poorer word recognition.
02Older age at implantation and less experience with the device were associated with poorer word recognition.
03Word scores measured with current steering strategies were not significantly different from those measured with continuous interleaved sampling strategies.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Retrospective design relies on clinical data that was not collected for research purposes, potentially introducing errors. Data collection spanned 15 years, so changes in surgical and device technology may have influenced results. The hearing status of the non-implanted ear was unknown, which could affect performance. The study only used monosyllabic word tests, which may not capture benefits of advanced processing strategies in complex listening situations.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The work was funded by the NIH National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and supported by Harvard Catalyst.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a high average impedance reading indicates a problem. The study found that the average magnitude of impedance was not associated with word recognition; only the variation in impedance across the electrodes predicted poorer outcomes.