Preservation of Residual Hearing after Minimally Invasive Cochlear Implantation

WANG Cui-cui; DAI Pu; HAN Dong-yi

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1672-2922.2013.03.009

Abstract：Objective To study the influence of atraumatic cochlear implantation on residual hearing and analyze the ef-fects of different low-frequency residual hearing level on postoperative speech performance in CI patients undergoing atraumat-ic cochlear implantation and other possible factors. Methods Twenty nine CI recipients, who had residual hearing and under-went an atraumatic CI surgery by one surgeon in the General Hospital of PLA in 2011,were followed up for 1-2 years. Audio-metric data and functional outcomes were collected. Patients were divided into deferent groups according to pre- or post- hear-ing levels. Preservation of residual hearing was evaluated and the effects of low-frequency hearing levels on postoperative speech performance analyzed. Results One week after the operation, the hearing-preservation rate was 100%(72.4%for com-plete and 27.5% for partial hearing preservation). Twenty five patients were followed up in the study, with an average fol-low-up time of 18.8 months. Rate of hearing reservation 18 months after the operation was 100%, (72%for complete and 28%for partial preservation). Patients of the pre-GLFH group showed higher speech recognition scores than those in the pre-PLFH group. Patients in the post-GLFH group showed higher speech recognition scores than those in the post-PLFH group, but the difference was not statistically significant. Patients with pre-lingual deafness showed a poor SRS compared with those with post-lingual deafness, especially in difficult hearing environment such as monosyllabic word test and SNR=+10 dB HL. Con-clusion Hearing preservation is feasible through atraumatic cochlear implantation. Better preoperative low-frequency hearing may indicate better acoustic and speech performance. Even at a long time of 18 months, residual hearing can be preserved. Atraumatic cochlear implantation preserves low-frequency hearing, which is the basis of better speech performance. Patients of prelingual deafness show poorer performance than those of postlingual deafness, especially in difficult hearing environ-ments.