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Author Spotlight: Optimizing EAS with Long Electrodes for Enhanced Cochlear Coverage and Hearing Preservation
Published on: October 11, 2024
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Cochlear Implantation in Elderly Patients with Residual Hearing
Farnaz Matin1, Eralp-Niyazi Artukarslan1, Angelika Illg1
1Otorhinolaryngology Department, Head and Neck Surgery, Hanover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
Journal of Clinical Medicine
|October 13, 2021
Summary
Elderly cochlear implant (CI) patients using electric-acoustic stimulation (EAS) or electric stimulation (ES) alone showed better speech understanding with longer electrodes. Maintaining residual hearing benefits EAS users, but careful preoperative selection is crucial for older adults.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Otolaryngology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Cochlear implants (CI) offer solutions for hearing loss in the elderly.
- Electric-acoustic stimulation (EAS) combines acoustic and electric hearing, while electric stimulation (ES) uses only electric input.
- Understanding hearing preservation (HP) and speech comprehension in elderly CI users is vital for optimizing device use.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate hearing levels and speech comprehension in elderly CI patients receiving EAS or ES-only.
- To identify audiometric factors predicting successful EAS and ES use in this population.
- To evaluate the impact of electrode length on speech perception outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 97 CIs in 89 elderly adults (≥65 years old).
- Evaluation of pure tone audiometry and speech perception (quiet and noise) preoperatively and 12 months post-activation.
- Comparison of outcomes between EAS users, ES-only users with longer electrodes, and ES-only users with shorter electrodes.
Main Results:
- Patients using EAS and ES-only with longer electrodes demonstrated superior monosyllable word scores in quiet compared to ES-only users with shorter electrodes.
- A similar trend favoring longer electrodes was observed for speech recognition in noise.
- Approximately 33.1% of patients were potential EAS candidates, with a significant portion utilizing their residual hearing.
Conclusions:
- Elderly CI patients benefit from EAS, particularly when residual hearing is preserved.
- Longer electrode insertion in both EAS and ES-only configurations correlates with improved speech perception.
- Strict preoperative selection criteria are necessary for elderly EAS candidates, considering potential differences in hearing thresholds compared to younger adults.
