Outcome of cochlear implantation in pediatric auditory neuropathy.
OBJECTIVE
Auditory neuropathy, characterized by absence or abnormality of auditory brainstem responses and normal otoacoustic emissions, is often associated with particularly poor response to amplification. Outcome data from four such pediatric patients who received cochlear implants are discussed.


METHODS
Four patients from the Carolina Children's Communicative Disorders Program were identified as having received a diagnosis of auditory neuropathy before implantation with a Clarion cochlear implant. Speech data collected after implantation were compared with data from control pediatric implant patients, matched for age at implantation and duration of implant use. Electrically evoked auditory brainstem response data and electrically evoked acoustic reflex data were also obtained.


METHODS
Routine clinical procedures were used to obtain speech outcome data. A 75-micros biphasic 21.1-Hz pulse train served as the eliciting stimulus for both evoked auditory brainstem responses and reflex measures, which were obtained contralateral to the implant.


RESULTS
Speech data were comparable with those obtained from the general population of pediatric patients receiving cochlear implants at this center. Identifiable evoked auditory brainstem response data were obtained in all subjects on at least two of the three electrodes tested, and variability was comparable with that observed in other children with implants. A robust electrically evoked acoustic reflex with no decay was observed at estimated M-level in all children.


CONCLUSIONS
The data gathered to date suggest that the outcome of cochlear implantation in these four patients is not significantly different from that in other pediatric implant patients. Physiologic data suggest that the implant was able to overcome the desynchronization hypothesized to underlie auditory neuropathy.
Buss
Emily
E
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 610 Burnett-Womack Building, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, U.S.A.
Labadie
Robert F
RF
Brown
Carolyn J
CJ
Gross
Aimee J
AJ
Grose
John H
JH
Pillsbury
Harold C
HC
D002675:Child, Preschool; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003056:Cochlear Nerve; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D006801:Humans; D011930:Reaction Time; D012016:Reference Values; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D000160:Vestibulocochlear Nerve Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*