title: Relationship between auditory perception skills and mismatch negativity recorded in free field in cochlear-implant users.
abstract: This study investigated the ability of cochlear-implanted patients to discriminate tone bursts in free field using the electrophysiological recordings of mismatch negativity (MMN). Seven cochlear-implanted patients (CIP) and eight control subjects (CS) were tested. Event-related potentials were recorded from either 32 or 64 electrodes in response to binaural stimuli using a passive oddball paradigm. Two stimulus-contrast conditions were used to produce MMN: The standard-tone frequency was fixed at 1 kHz, and the deviant-tone frequency was set at 2 or 1.5 kHz. The results show that response waveforms (N1/P2) are similar in latency and amplitude for CS and CIP, suggesting that pure-tone detection is performed over the same time window in both groups. These waveforms are also similar in left- and right-implanted patients, suggesting that electric stimulation of the auditory nerve activates both hemispheres in profound, bilateral hearing loss. Pure-tone audiograms and word-discrimination scores were also measured in each subject in an anechoic room and their relations with MMN data were examined. Correlations were found between the latency of MMN for a 1.5 kHz deviant and the thresholds obtained for pure-tone detection and word discrimination. MMN appears as a possible complementary clinical tool to objectively assess auditory sensitivity in cochlear-implanted populations. However, further improvements are still necessary before it can be used as a standard clinical examination.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Audio-Phonologie Clinique, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de La Timone, Rue St Pierre, F-13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France. stephane.roman@mail.ap-hm.fr
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roman
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Canévet
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marquis
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Triglia
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liégeois-Chauvel
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001300:Audiometry, Evoked Response; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology