57
Views
12
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Article

Audiological Performance with Cochlear Reimplantation from Analogue Single-Channel Implants to Digital Multi-channel Devices: Rendimiento audiológico con reimplantación coclear: de los implantes analógicos de un canal a los digitales multi-canal

, , , &
Pages 305-310 | Received 11 Apr 2000, Accepted 21 Jun 2000, Published online: 07 Jul 2009
 

Abstract

Cochlear implantation has been performed for almost two decades at the Vienna University Hospital. Until 1994, single-channel implants were used (Ball-Electrode, SC6/2SC6, Vienna/Epoxy, Med-El, Innsbruck, Austria). The development of multi-channel devices (Combi 40/40+), which provide significantly improved speech recognition performance, led to the reimplantation of some patients who had previously received single-channel implants. It was of particular interest to find out if there was a deterioration of the central “learning process” by the reimplantation from the analogue single-channel device to the tonotopic pulsatile multi-channel stimulation. In this study, we attempted to demonstrate that single-channel implants have an impact on the neural organisation of the auditory system. Two groups of post-lingually deaf adult patients were tested. Group A had previously received single-channel implants and were reimplanted with the new Combi 40/40+ cochlear implant (Med-El, Innsbruck, Austria) in the same ear. Group B was implanted only with the Combi 40/40+. Six different speech recognition tests were subsequently performed on all patients, and the two groups performed similarly. Furthermore, it was discovered that group A obtained significant speech recognition improvement (p<0.05) with monosyllabic words and number tests 1 month following reimplantation.

Sumario

En el Hospital Universitario de Viena, desde hace casi dos décadas se han realizado implantes cocleares. Hasta 1994 se utilizaron implantes de un canal (Ball-Ekectrode, SC6/2SC6, Viena/Epoxy, Med-El, Innsbruck, Austria).El desarrollo de implantes de múltiples canales (Combi 40/40+), que permiten una discriminación del habla significativa-mente mejor, llevó a la reimplantación de algunos pacientes que habían recibido previamente implantes monocanal. Fue particularmente interesante saber si existía deterioro del “proceso central de aprendizaje” con el cambio de un implante analógico de un canal a la estimulación tonotópica pulsátil multicanal. En este estudio tratamos de demostrar que los implantes de un canal tienen impacto en la organización neural del sistema auditivo. Se incluyeron dos grupos de adultos ensordecidos. Los pacientes del grupo A habían recibido previamente un implante monocanal y se les reimplantó en el mismo oído el nuevo Combi40/40+ (Med-El, Innsbruck, Austria). Los del grupo B se implantaron por primera vez con el Combi 40/40+. A todos los paciente se les aplicaron seis pruebas diferentes de reconocimiento del lenguaje. Los dos grupos tuvieron un rendimiento similar; inclusive se demostró que el grupo A obtuvo un resultado significativamente mejor (p<0.05) en el reconocimiento de monosílabos y números un mes después de la reimplantación.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.