title: Effect of technological advances on cochlear implant performance in adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effect of technological advances in the past 20 years on the hearing performance of a large cohort of adult cochlear implant (CI) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Individual, retrospective, cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  According to technological developments in electrode design and speech-processing strategies, we defined five virtual intervals on the time scale between 1984 and 2008. A cohort of 1,005 postlingually deafened adults was selected for this study, and their hearing performance with a CI was evaluated retrospectively according to these five technological intervals. The test battery was composed of four standard German speech tests: Freiburger monosyllabic test, speech tracking test, Hochmair-Schulz-Moser (HSM) sentence test in quiet, and HSM sentence test in 10 dB noise.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The direct comparison of the speech perception in postlingually deafened adults, who were implanted during different technological periods, reveals an obvious improvement in the speech perception in patients who benefited from the recent electrode designs and speech-processing strategies. The major influence of technological advances on CI performance seems to be on speech perception in noise.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Better speech perception in noisy surroundings is strong proof for demonstrating the success rate of new electrode designs and speech-processing strategies. Standard (internationally comparable) speech tests in noise should become an obligatory part of the postoperative test battery for adult CI patients.
authors: Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Charité, Medical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany. minoo.lenarz@charite.de
authors: Minoo
authors: M
authors: Lenarz
authors: Gert
authors: G
authors: Joseph
authors: Hasibe
authors: H
authors: Sönmez
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Büchner
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Lenarz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D020811:Biomedical Technology / Q000639:trends*; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003638:Deafness / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013069:Speech Reception Threshold Test; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome