Minimum intraoperative testing battery for cochlear implantation: the international practice trend.

Purpose: In cochlear implantation (CI) surgery, there are a wide variety of intraoperative tests available. However, no clear guide exists on which tests must be performed as the minimum intraoperative testing battery. Toward this end, we studied the usage patterns, recommendations, and attitudes of practitioners toward intraoperative testing.

Stimulation Crosstalk Between Cochlear And Vestibular Spaces During Cochlear Electrical Stimulation.

Objectives: Possible beneficial "crosstalk" during cochlear implant stimulation on otolith end organs has been hypothesized. The aim of this case-control study is to analyze the effect of electrical cochlear stimulation on the vestibule (otolith end-organ), when using a cochleo-vestibular implant, comparing vestibular stimulation (VI) and cochlear stimulation (CI).

Methods: Four patients with bilateral vestibulopathy were included.

Why Should Constant Stimulation of Saccular Afferents Modify the Posture and Gait of Patients with Bilateral Vestibular Dysfunction? The Saccular Substitution Hypothesis.

An ongoing EU Horizon 2020 Project called BionicVEST is investigating the effect of constant electrical stimulation (ES) of the inferior vestibular nerve in patients with bilateral vestibular dysfunction (BVD). The evidence is that constant ES results in improved postural stability and gait performance, and so the question of central importance concerns how constant ES of mainly saccular afferents in these BVD patients could cause this improved performance. We suggest that the constant ES substitutes for the absent saccular neural input to the vestibular nuclei and the cerebellum in these BVD patients and indirectly via these structures to other structures, which have been of great recent interest in motor control.

Transcutaneous Osseo-integrated Auditory Devices: Analysis of Two Different Implants in Adults With Different Audiological Inclusion Criteria.

Objective: To determine and compare audiological and speech/language discrimination results in patients with osteo-integrated auditory devices, by comparing two different systems including different audiological indications in adult population.

Study Design: Descriptive and analytic, cross-sectional, cohort, and retrospective case review.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Mechanisms of electrode fold-over in cochlear implant surgery when using a flexible and slim perimodiolar electrode array.

Objectives: This study evaluates the design of a thin perimodiolar cochlear implant electrode array (CI532) and assesses insertion-related rotation and fold-over.

Methods: The study consisted on a cochlear model and temporal bone insertion studies. Twenty insertions were studied, under four different surgical insertion conditions in vitro, the intracochlear disposition of the electrode array and presence of tip fold over were recorded.

Air traffic controllers' long-term speech-in-noise training effects: A control group study.

Introduction: Speech perception in noise relies on the capacity of the auditory system to process complex sounds using sensory and cognitive skills. The possibility that these can be trained during adulthood is of special interest in auditory disorders, where speech in noise perception becomes compromised. Air traffic controllers (ATC) are constantly exposed to radio communication, a situation that seems to produce auditory learning.