Multichannel cochlear implantation in children with large vestibular aqueduct syndrome.

This study examined the postoperative performance of multichannel cochlear implantation in children with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss secondary to large vestibular aqueduct syndrome. Five children between ages 4 and 13 years who had large vestibular aqueducts confirmed by computed tomography scans underwent implantation of a CLARION Multi-Strategy Cochlear Implant between January 1995 and June 1996 at Boys Town National Research Hospital. In addition to preoperative evaluations, they were examined postoperatively with their implants on a battery of open-set speech recognition tests at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months following initial stimulation.

Implantation of the CLARION cochlear implant in an ossified cochlea.

This report describes the successful implantation of the CLARION Multi-Strategy Cochlear Implant electrode in the totally ossified cochlea of a 5-year-old child via a radical mastoidectomy approach. Postoperatively, the child demonstrated responses to auditory stimuli, even though the electrode array contacted only bone and muscle graft tissue with no visible evidence of nerve fibers or cochlear lumen. Responses to sound did not begin to emerge until 10 weeks following initial stimulation and improved slowly over time.