(0939) Hearing Preservation With the Lateral Wall Electrode: Outcomes in Adult Patients After 12 Months

Introduction: The objective was to assess hearing preservation after cochlear implant surgery with the Advanced Bionics HiFocusTM SlimJ electrode based on EcochG measurements and the hearing preservation Skarżyński assessment method.

Methods: The implanted group consists of 6 male patients and 9 female (n = 15, aged = 50,93, SD = 13,85) who received Advanced Bionics HiFocusTM SlimJ electrodes. The electrodes were implanted with the round window approach by an experienced surgeon. All patients have been done the pure-tone audiometry measurements in a soundproof cabin before surgery and 1, 3, and 6 months after cochlear implantation. The EcochG (electrocochleography) measurements were done in 1, 3, and 6 months after cochlear implantation. The surgeries have been done in the World Hearing Center in Kajetany, Poland. The Advanced Bionics’ AIM system was used for recordings of the EcochG signals and to estimate hearing thresholds. The Skarzynski assessment method was used to calculate hearing preservation in two different opportunities: (1) only with pure-tone audiometry thresholds, and (2) with use the thresholds estimated by the AIM algorithm based on postoperative EcochG recordings.

Results: Calculations made after the first month post-surgery showed that there was no difference in the distribution of hearing preservation categories between PTA and

Aim: 6-complete, 9-partial. Discrepancies have been noted for 3 months and 6 months after cochlear implantation: for PTA there was 1 minimal (3 months) and 2 minimal (6 months) compared to no minimal HP using AIM estimation.

Conclusions: The Advanced Bionics HiFocusTM SlimJ electrode array enables hearing preservation and maintenance of micro-mechanic cochlear function after cochlear implant surgery through the round window approach. Moreover, the EcochG measurements appear to be a prospective method for estimating the hearing preservation rate after cochlear implantation.