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Updated: Oct 18, 2025
Author Spotlight: Optimizing EAS with Long Electrodes for Enhanced Cochlear Coverage and Hearing Preservation
Published on: October 11, 2024
Influence of electrode to cochlear duct length ratio on post-operative speech understanding outcomes
Shayna P Cooperman1, Ksenia A Aaron1, Ayman Fouad1,2
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Objective:
To assess whether the pre-operative electrode to cochlear duct length ratio (ECDLR), is associated with post-operative speech recognition outcomes.
Study Design:
A retrospective chart review study.
Setting:
Tertiary referral center.
Patients:
The study included sixty-one adult CI recipients with a pre-operative computed tomography scan and a speech recognition test 12 months after implantation.
Interventions:
The average of two raters' cochlear duct length (CDL) measurements and the length of the recipient's cochlear implant electrode array formed the basis for the electrode-to-cochlear duct length ratio (ECLDR). Speech recognition tests were compared as a function of ECDLR and electrode array length itself.
Main Outcome Measures:
The relationship between ECDLR and percent correct on speech recognition tests.
Results:
A second order polynomial regression relating ECDLR to percent correct on the CNC words speech recognition test was statistically significant, as was a fourth order polynomial regression for the AzBio Quiet test. In contrast, there was no statistically significant relationship between speech recognition scores and electrode array length.
Conclusions:
ECDLR values can be statistically associated to speech-recognition outcomes. However, these ECDLR values cannot be predicted by the electrode length alone, and must include a measure of CDL.
