Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 27, 2026
Performing Intracochlear Electrocochleography During Cochlear Implantation
Published on: March 8, 2022
Behavioral Feedback During Cochlear Implant Array Insertion Under Local Anesthesia: A New Frontier in Cochlear
Karl R Khandalavala1, Pei-Zhe Wu2, Christine P Etler2
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.
Objective:
To describe the potential applications of awake cochlear implantation (CI).
Patients:
Adult patients with sensorineural hearing loss who qualify for CI.
Interventions:
CI under local anesthesia, without any form of systemic analgesia or anesthesia.
Main Outcome Measures:
Acoustic hearing preservation, subjective patient report of cochlear implant pitch matching, and subjective patient report of cochlear implant sound quality.
Results:
Four illustrative cases are presented, highlighting the potential uses of CI performed under local anesthesia for optimizing outcomes in hearing preservation, implant pitch matching, and implant sound quality.
Conclusions:
CI under local anesthesia allows surgeons to use real-time patient feedback during electrode array insertion to minimize intracochlear trauma, particularly in cases where hearing preservation is a goal of CI, and to potentially improve implant performance by optimizing pitch matching and sound quality.
