Remote Intraoperative Monitoring of Cochlear Implants

Intraoperative measurements are valuable tools in cochlear implant (CI) surgery, enabling the determination of implant functionality while the patient is still in the operating room. Standard measurements include impedances for stimulating and non-stimulating contacts, triggering of the stapedial reflex with or without estimating the threshold, and assessing cochlear nerve function by measuring electrically evoked compound action potentials. Additional measurements can also be performed. For example, electrocochleography can be used to observe and help preserve residual hearing in patients. Usually, measurements are performed in situ in the operating room, which is time-consuming, especially for the engineer responsible for the measurements. This protocol describes how cochlear implant measurements can be performed remotely using a telephone in the operating room and a remotely accessible laptop. With this setup, the measurements can be completed without the engineer entering the operating room, reducing the time required from around 29 min in situ. to 8 min remotely (excluding session with ECochG).