Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 15, 2025
Author Spotlight: Optimizing EAS with Long Electrodes for Enhanced Cochlear Coverage and Hearing Preservation
Published on: October 11, 2024
Adaptation of the Standardized Hearing Outcomes Scattergram to Hearing Preservation in Cochlear Implantation
Elizabeth L Perkins1, Nauman F Manzoor, David S Haynes
1Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
Objective:
Encourage adaptation of a standardized format for reporting hearing preservation outcomes in cochlear implantation (CI).
Study Design:
Retrospective chart review.
Setting:
Tertiary referral center.
Patients:
One hundred seventy-eight postlingually deafened adults with bilateral SNHL and a preoperative low-frequency pure-tone average (LFPTA) 80 dB HL or better at 125, 250, and 500 Hz in the ear to be implanted.
Interventions:
Subjects underwent unilateral CI from 2013 to 2019 at a large referral center. Pre- versus postoperative LPFTA was used to generate a scattergram.
Main Outcomes Measures:
Pre- versus postoperative activation LPFTA, percentage of patients fit with electric and acoustic stimulation, scattergram plot.
Results:
Average postoperative LFPTA was 68.6 dB HL (range 18-68) compared with 48.7 dB (range 5-80), preoperatively. At activation, the average LFPTA shift at CI activation was 20.5 dB HL (range 0-60) and 83.5% (n = 137) patients had hearing preserved, of whom 41.6% were fit with electric and acoustic stimulation throughout the study period. The scattergram successfully illustrates the distribution and number of patients with their respective audiometric outcomes.
Conclusions:
The scattergram developed for reporting hearing outcomes in clinical trials is highly adaptable to reporting hearing preservation results in cochlear implant surgery. It represents a transparent and accessible option for reporting outcomes that can be used as a consistent format to allow for interstudy comparison and future meta-analysis.
