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79th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

30.04. - 04.05.2008, Bonn

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Remote Fitting and Measurement in Nucleus Cochlear Implant Patients

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  • corresponding author Thomas Wesarg - Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • author Stefanie Kröger - Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • author Alexander Huber - Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • author Michaela Einert - Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • author Jürgen Roth - Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • author Friederike Junge - Cochlear GmbH, Hannover, Germany
  • author Allan Novakovich - Cochlear AG, Basel, Switzerland
  • author Katrin Jaekel - Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • author Antje Aschendorff - Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • author Roland Laszig - Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 79th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Bonn, 30.04.-04.05.2008. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2008. Doc08hno19

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hno2008/08hno19.shtml

Published: July 8, 2008

© 2008 Wesarg et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

Text

Remote measurement and fitting of cochlear implant patients can potentially reduce the travel effort of patients which could be beneficial for patients in large territorial states without access to local cochlear implant centres, as well as save working time of audiological professionals doing intra-operative measurements and speech processor fittings. This study is conducted to investigate if commercially available, internet-based video-conferencing technologies are suitable for remote fitting and measurement in patients with Nucleus cochlear implants.

Intra-operative measurements were conducted where the audiologist controlling the measurement software was not in the operating theatre. Post-operative fitting was conducted in two fitting sessions for each recipient. In the local fitting session the audiologist and recipient were in the same room; in the remote fitting session they were in different rooms. During remote measurement audio signals and during remote fitting audio and video signals were transmitted via the internet using video-conferencing technology. The fitting and measurement software were controlled remotely via the same internet link. All active participants' assessment of functionality and practicability of remote fitting and measurement was collected in questionnaires.

Preliminary results show that a bandwidth of 1 MBit/s is suitable for remote fitting, where remote control, bidirectional video and audio are used. Video transmission is not required for remote measurements. For the audiologist, remote intra-operative measurement seems to be time-efficient but remote fitting requires more time than local fitting.

Available technology can support remote fitting and measurement of patients with Nucleus cochlear implants.