Audiological performance with cochlear reimplantation from analogue single-channel implants to digital multi-channel devices.
Cochlear implantation has been performed for almost two decades at the Vienna University Hospital. Until 1994, single-channel implants were used (Ball-Electrode, SC6/2SC6, Vienna/Epoxy, Med-E1, Innsbruck, Austria). The development of multi-channel devices (Combi 40/40+), which provide significantly improved speech recognition performance, led to the reimplantation of some patients who had previously received single-channel implants. It was of particular interest to find out if there was a deterioration of the central "learning process" by the reimplantation from the analogue single-channel device to the tonotopic pulsatile multi-channel stimulation. In this study, we attempted to demonstrate that single-channel implants have an impact on the neural organisation of the auditory system. Two groups of post-lingually deaf adult patients were tested. Group A had previously received single-channel implants and were reimplanted with the new Combi 40/40+ cochlear implant (Med-E1, Innsbruck, Austria) in the same ear. Group B was implanted only with the Combi 40/40+. Six different speech recognition tests were subsequently performed on all patients, and the two groups performed similarly. Furthermore, it was discovered that group A obtained significant speech recognition improvement (p<0.05) with monosyllabic words and number tests 1 month following reimplantation.
Hamzavi
J S
JS
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Vienna, Medical School, Austria.
Baumgartner
W D
WD
Adunka
O
O
Franz
P
P
Gstoettner
W
W
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003638:Deafness / Q000601:surgery*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D010700:Phonetics; D012092:Replantation; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology