Hearing Preservation Outcomes Using a Precurved Electrode Array Inserted With an External Sheath

Hearing Preservation Outcomes Using a Precurved Electrode Array Inserted With an External Sheath: Objectives:

Describe audiologic outcomes in hearing preservation cochlear implantation (CI) using a precurved electrode array inserted using an external sheath and evaluate association of electrode positioning and preservation of residual hearing.

Study Design:

Retrospective review.

Setting:

Tertiary otologic center.

Patients:

Twenty-four adult patients who underwent hearing preservation CI with precurved electrode array.

Interventions:

CI, intraoperative computed tomography (CT)

Outcome Measures:

Audiologic measures (consonant-nucleus-consonant [CNC] words, AzBio sentences, low-frequency pure tone averages [LFPTA]) and electrode location (scalar location, electrode-to-modiolus distance (

JOURNAL/otneu/04.02/00129492-202001000-00008/math_8MM1/v/2019-12-11T043220Z/r/image-tiff

), angular insertion depth).

Results:

Twenty-four adults with less than 80 dB LFPTA with a precurved electrode array inserted using an external sheath; 16 underwent intraoperative CT. LFPTA was 58.5 dB HL preoperatively, with a 17.3 dB threshold shift at CI activation (p = 0.005). CNC word scores improved from 6% preoperatively to 64% at 6 months postoperatively (p