Cochlear implants: is there any relationship between stimulation rates and adaptation?
G Sennaroglu1, L Sennaroglu, E E Yucel
1Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Audiology Section, Hacettepe University Medical Faculty, Ankara, Turkey.
Objective:
To determine the relationship between stimulation rate and adaptation in cochlear implant users.
Study Design:
A prospective clinical study.
Setting:
This study was conducted at Hacettepe University Medical Faculty, which is a tertiary care and cochlear implant center in Ankara, Turkey.
Patients:
Seven patients (three women, four men) who were using Nucleus CI 24 M cochlear implants (Cochlear Corp., Lane Cove, NSW, Australia). Two of them had become deaf after developing language skills, and five had congenitally deafness.
Results:
Six patients demonstrated no tone decay. Only one patient, who had congenital hearing loss, demonstrated tone decay at stimulation rates of 250, 500, 720, 900 pulses per second. There is no statistically significant relationship between the stimulation rate and the selected electrode.
Conclusion:
The majority of the cochlear implant patients sustained the perception of a continuous electrical signal for 1 minute at 5 to 10 current levels above threshold.
