title: The Compound Action Potential in Subjects Receiving a Cochlear Implant.
abstract: The compound action potential (CAP) is a purely neural component of the cochlea's response to sound, and may provide information regarding the existing neural substrate in cochlear implant (CI) subjects that can help account for variance in speech perception outcomes.
  
  
  
  Measurement of the "total response" (TR), or sum of the magnitudes of spectral components in the ongoing responses to tone bursts across frequencies, has been shown to account for 40 to 50% of variance in speech perception outcomes. The ongoing response is composed of both hair cell and neural components. This correlation may be improved with the addition of the CAP.
  
  
  
  Intraoperative round window electrocochleography (ECochG) was performed in adult and pediatric CI subjects (n = 238). Stimuli were tones of different frequencies (250 Hz-4 kHz) at 90 dB nHL. The CAP was assessed in two ways, as an amplitude and with a scaling factor derived from a function fitted to the response. The results were correlated with consonant-nucleus-consonant (CNC) word scores at 6 months post-implantation (n = 51).
  
  
  
  Only about half of the subjects had a measurable CAP at any frequency. The CNC word scores correlated weakly with both amplitude (r = 0.20, p < 0.001) and scaling factor (r = 0.25, p < 0.01). In contrast, the TR alone accounted for 43% of the variance, and addition of either CAP measurement in multiple regression did not account for additional variance.
  
  
  
  The underlying pathology in CI patients causes the CAP to be often absent and highly variable when present. The TR is a better predictor of speech perception outcomes than the CAP.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina†Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio‡Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, St Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Christopher K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Giardina
authors.forename: Andrew K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Pappa
authors.forename: Tatyana E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Fontenot
authors.forename: Meredith L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Margaret T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Dillon
authors.forename: Kevin D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Harold C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Pillsbury
authors.forename: Oliver F
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Adunka
authors.forename: Craig A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Buchman
authors.forename: Douglas C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Fitzpatrick
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D001300:Audiometry, Evoked Response / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D003051:Cochlea / Q000502:physiology* / Q000601:surgery; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000379:methods; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D064795:Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012405:Round Window, Ear / Q000601:surgery; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome