Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 18, 2026
Enhanced Cochlear Coverage and Hearing Preservation in High-Frequency Hearing Loss via Electric Acoustic Stimulation with Longer Electrode
Published on: October 11, 2024
Conservation of residual acoustic hearing after cochlear implantation
Thomas J Balkany1, Sarah S Connell, Annelle V Hodges
1Department of Otolaryngology, University of Miami Ear Institute, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida 33101, USA. TBalkany@miami.edu
Objective:
This study was designed to test the hypothesis that partial hearing conservation is attainable after cochlear implantation with a long perimodiolar electrode. Surgical strategies for hearing conservation during cochlear implantation are described.
Study Design:
Prospective, single-subject, repeated-measures design.
Setting:
Academic tertiary care center.
Patients:
Twenty-eight severely to profoundly hearing-impaired adult cochlear implant recipients who had some measurable hearing preoperatively.
Intervention:
Cochlear implantation using Nucleus Freedom Contour Advance electrode.
Main Outcome Measures:
Preimplant and postimplant pure-tone thresholds and speech recognition scores were obtained to determine the incidence and degree of conserved hearing at a mean interval of 9 (+/-3.9) months.
Results:
Thirty-two percent of subjects experienced complete conservation of hearing (0- to 10-dB loss), and 57% experienced partial conservation of hearing (>11 dB) after implantation. However, open-set speech recognition was partially conserved in only one subject. Cochlear implant performance was not better in patients with conservation of residual hearing.
Conclusion:
Conservation of pure-tone hearing was possible in 89% of implanted patients; however, residual speech perception was not conserved with this long perimodiolar electrode. A ceiling effect tends to inflate the prevalence of hearing conservation in implantation studies of severely to profoundly hearing-impaired patients.
