Does cochlear reimplantation affect speech recognition?: ¿Afecta la reimplantación coclear el reconocimiento del lenguaje?

Abstract

Although cochlear implantation has been proven to be a very effective method of rehabilitation for post-lingually deaf adults and pre-lingually deaf children, as electronic devices, cochlear implants are occasionally subject to damage or breakdowns. In these cases, reimplantation would be necessary. The aim of this study was to find out whether or not there are any negative effects on speech abilities after reimplantation with the same type of multichannel digital implant in the same ear. Seven patients were provided with a digital multi-channel cochlear implant. One subject suffered manipulative damage to the implant, and in six subjects an implant failure was observed. All rcimplantations were performed on the same ear as the initial implantation, with the same implant type. Parameters such as insertion depth and number of active channels were the same in all subjects before and after reimplantation. Immediately following the revision surgery, three patients attained the same level of hearing that they had with their original implants. Three months following reimplantation, five subjects achieved almost the same scores that they had before reimplantation. The results showed that cochlear implant patients undergoing re-implantation can anticipate achieving nearly the same level of speech recognition as they had with their original implant. Nevertheless, patients need to be aware of potential problems before undergoing reimplantation so that expectations are not too high.

Key Words:

• Cochlear implant
• Hearing performance
• Reimplantation