Cochlear implantation following cerebellar surgery

Abstract

Cochlear implantation in patients with known central nervous system conditions can result in wide-ranging outcomes. The aim of this study is to report two cases of cochlear implantation outcomes in patients with acquired cerebellar ataxia following cerebellar surgery. The first is a female implanted with the Nucleus 24 implant in September 2000 and the second is a male implanted with a MED-EL Sonata Flexsoft electro-acoustic stimulation in July 2009. Programming these patients resulted in significant non-auditory stimulation which resulted in less than optimum map fittings. The patients did not gain any open set speech perception benefit although both of them gained an awareness of sound with the device. However, patient 2 elected to become a non-user because of the limited benefit.

Keywords:

• Cerebellar ataxia
• Sensorineural hearing loss
• Cochlear implant
• Non-auditory stimulation