title: Multichannel cochlear implants. Current status and future developments.
abstract: The University of California, San Francisco has been active in the development of the multichannel cochlear implants for rehabilitation of total sensory deafness for the past 8 years. Patients implanted with experimental prototypes of the devices now in use have demonstrated that speech discrimination of 40% to 50% is possible for common everyday words and sentence material. These devices provide the same stimulation to each of the 8 bipolar pairs in the cochlea. They have an internal disconnect device which allows for replacement and upgrading of implanted receiver-drivers without disturbing the scala tympani electrodes. Application of these devices in a larger deaf population is currently underway. The present report discusses the current status of implants and the future developments we fell are necessary to achieve improved speech discrimination.
mesh_terms: D003054:Cochlear Implants; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D013067:Speech Perception