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82nd Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

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

01.06. - 05.06.2011, Freiburg

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Fitting of Cochlear Implant Patients, implanted with the Hybrid-L-Electrode

Meeting Abstract

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  • corresponding author presenting/speaker Lutz Gärtner - Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany
  • Andreas Büchner - Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany
  • Gert Joseph - Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany
  • Thomas Lenarz - Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 82nd Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Freiburg, 01.-05.06.2011. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2011. Doc11hno27

doi: 10.3205/11hno27, urn:nbn:de:0183-11hno279

Published: August 3, 2011

© 2011 Gärtner 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

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Patients with a severe to profound hearing loss in the frequency region above 1 kHz, but with residual hearing in the low frequency region can be supplied with a special cochlear implant (CI), where the electrode array is thinner and shorter in comparison to a conventional device. Such an electrode (Hybrid-L) is being inserted via the round window.

Programming of the speech processor is accomplished behaviourally based upon subjective feedback regarding the loudness sensed by the patient. Measures of the electrically evoked compound action potential (ECAP) can help to generate a map. In our retrospective study we investigated programming parameters and ECAP thresholds in the case of a Hybrid-L electrode. We analyzed 71 subjects implanted with a Nucleus RE24CA (Contour Advance) and 72 subjects implanted with a Nucleus 24 Hybrid-L cochlear implant. ECAP thresholds were measured with the CustomSound Software using the AutoNRT algorithm. These thresholds as well as the behavioural C (comfort) and T (threshold) levels were compared with those obtained in the case of a conventional (CA) electrode, which is situated perimodiolar.

The profiles of the ECAP threshold, the C level, and T level show a characteristic dip around electrode 9 in the case of the Hybrid-L electrode. ECAP threshold, C level, and T level are about 20 CL higher than in the case of the CA electrode.

We assume that by insertion through the round window the electrode is located in a way that electrode 9 has the nearest proximity to the modiolus.