[Intra- and postoperative electrophysiological diagnostics]

Within the context of treatment with cochlear implants (CIs), different electrical and electrophysiological diagnostic procedures are applied both intra- and postoperatively. These assess electrical measures from the CI and electrophysiological measures from CI patients, respectively. The electrophysiological diagnostic procedures comprise measurement of electrically evoked compound action potentials of the auditory nerve, the registration of electrically evoked auditory brainstem potentials and the assessment of electrically evoked auditory cortical potentials. These potentials reflect auditory nerve excitation and stimulus processing in different parts of the ascending auditory pathway for intracochlear electrical stimulation via a CI. For current CIs, assessment of electrode position and examination of the implant's coupling to the auditory nerve are important domains of application for electrophysiological diagnostic procedures. Another substantial application area is the examination of stimulus processing in the auditory pathway. However, the main field of application of these procedures is supporting the fitting of CI speech processors in infants and toddlers on the basis of electrophysiological thresholds.