Characterizing Cochlear Implant Trans-Impedance Matrix Heatmaps in Patients With Abnormal Anatomy.

Objective: To characterize transimpedance matrix (TIM) heatmap patterns in patients at risk of labyrinthine abnormality to better understand accuracy and possible TIM limitations.

Study Design: Retrospective review of TIM patterns, preoperative, and postoperative imaging.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

The Effect of Bimodal Hearing on Postoperative Quality of Life.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to examine how bimodal stimulation affects quality of life (QOL) during the postoperative period following cochlear implantation (CI). These data could potentially provide evidence to encourage more bimodal candidates to continue hearing aid (HA) use after CI.

Methods: In this prospective study, patients completed preoperative and 1-, 3-, and 6-month post-activation QOL surveys on listening effort, speech perception, sound quality/localization, and hearing handicap.

Early cochlear implantation for children with single sided deafness.

Objectives: Single-sided deafness (SSD) can have consequences for a child's language, educational, and social development. A cochlear implant (CI) is the only device which can restore true binaural hearing, yet they are only approved for children with (SSD) over the age of five in the United States. Reports on speech perception outcomes for children implanted at a younger age are limited.

Cochlear Implantation in Children Under 9 Months of Age: Safety and Efficacy.

Objective: To assess the safety of cochlear implants (CIs) in children under 9 months of age to better understand expected postoperative complication rates, and to provide a preliminary look at efficacy.

Study Design: Single-center retrospective review.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Cochlear implants: the effects of age on outcomes.

Introduction: Cochlear implants (CIs) provide access to sound for children and adults who do not receive adequate benefit from hearing aids. Age at implantation is known to affect outcomes across the lifespan.

Areas Covered: The effects of age on CI outcomes are examined for infants, children, adolescents, and older adults.

Ceiling effects for speech perception tests in pediatric cochlear implant users.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of ceiling effects for commonly used speech perception tests in a large population of children who received a cochlear implant (CI) before the age of four. A secondary goal was to determine the demographic factors that were relevant for predicting which children were more likely to reach ceiling level performance. We hypothesize that ceiling effects are highly prevalent for most tests.

Acceptance and Benefit of Electroacoustic Stimulation in Children.

Objective: Children with high-frequency severe-to-profound hearing loss and low-frequency residual hearing who do not derive significant benefit from hearing aids are now being considered for cochlear implantation. Previous research shows that hearing preservation is possible and may be desirable for the use of electroacoustic stimulation (EAS) in adults, but this topic remains underexplored in children. The goal of this study was to explore factors relating to hearing preservation, acceptance, and benefits of EAS for children.

Stimulating the Cochlear Apex Without Longer Electrodes: Preliminary Results With a New Approach.

Objective: To investigate a new surgical and signal processing technique that provides apical stimulation of the cochlea using a cochlear implant without extending the length of the electrode array.

Patients: Three adult patients who underwent cochlear implantation using this new technique.

Interventions: The patients received a cochlear implant.

Auditory Cortical Changes Precede Brainstem Changes During Rapid Implicit Learning: Evidence From Human EEG.

The auditory system is sensitive to stimulus regularities such as frequently occurring sounds and sound combinations. Evidence of regularity detection can be seen in how neurons across the auditory network, from brainstem to cortex, respond to the statistical properties of the soundscape, and in the rapid learning of recurring patterns in their environment by children and adults. Although rapid auditory learning is presumed to involve functional changes to the auditory network, the chronology and directionality of changes are not well understood.

Outcomes of cochlear implantation in adults over 85 years of age.

Aim: Untreated hearing loss is risk factor for dementia, depression and falls in the elderly population. The present study evaluated the outcomes of cochlear implantation in adults over age 85, including surgical outcomes, speech perception, and implant use.

Methods: Retrospective chart review of 78 patients implanted at a tertiary academic medical center.

Cochlear Implantation in Adults With Single-sided Deafness: Outcomes and Device Use.

Objective: To describe our experience with adults undergoing cochlear implantation (CI) for treatment of single-sided deafness (SSD).

Study Design: Retrospective case review.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Melodic interval perception with acoustic and electric hearing in bimodal and single-sided deaf cochlear implant listeners.

Two notes sounded sequentially elicit melodic intervals and contours that form the basis of melody. Many previous studies have characterized pitch perception in cochlear implant (CI) users to be poor which may be due to the limited spectro-temporal resolution and/or spectral warping with electric hearing compared to acoustic hearing (AH). Poor pitch perception in CIs has been shown to distort melodic interval perception.

Assessing the Quality of Low-Frequency Acoustic Hearing: Implications for Combined Electroacoustic Stimulation With Cochlear Implants.

Objectives: There are many potential advantages to combined electric and acoustic stimulation (EAS) with a cochlear implant (CI), including benefits for hearing in noise, localization, frequency selectivity, and music enjoyment. However, performance on these outcome measures is variable, and the residual acoustic hearing may not be beneficial for all patients. As such, we propose a measure of spectral resolution that might be more predictive of the usefulness of the residual hearing than the audiogram alone.

Acceptance and Benefits of Electro-Acoustic Stimulation for Conventional-Length Electrode Arrays.

Background: Prior studies have shown an advantage for electro-acoustic stimulation (EAS) in cochlear implant (CI) patients with residual hearing, but the degree of benefit can vary. The objective was to explore which factors relate to performance with and acceptance of EAS for CI users with conventional-length electrodes.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted for adults with an average threshold of 75 dB hearing loss or better across 250 and 500 Hz preoperatively (n = 83).

Cochlear implantation in children under 12 months: Prevalence and implications of 'hidden' disabilities.

While cochlear implants (CI) prior to 12 months of age have become common, the prevalence and impact of issues that either arise or were not evident prior to implantation is unknown. Retrospective chart review of children implanted under 12 months of age with minimum 3 years follow up. The children were divided into three groups: those with no identified additional disabilities, those with no known disabilities at time of implantation but diagnosed with additional disabilities following implantation, and those that had known anticipated additional disabilities at time of implantation.

Pleasantness Ratings for Harmonic Intervals With Acoustic and Electric Hearing in Unilaterally Deaf Cochlear Implant Patients.

Background: Harmony is an important part of tonal music that conveys context, form and emotion. Two notes sounded simultaneously form a harmonic interval. In normal-hearing (NH) listeners, some harmonic intervals (e.

The Effect of Stimulus Polarity on the Relation Between Pitch Ranking and ECAP Spread of Excitation in Cochlear Implant Users.

Although modern cochlear implants (CIs) use cathodic-leading symmetrical biphasic pulses to stimulate the auditory nerve, a growing body of evidence suggests that anodic-leading pulses may be more effective. The positive polarity has been shown to produce larger electrically evoked compound action potential (ECAP) amplitudes, steeper slope of the amplitude growth function, and broader spread of excitation (SOE) patterns. Polarity has also been shown to influence pitch perception.

Masking Release for Speech in Modulated Maskers: Electrophysiological and Behavioral Measures.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to obtain an electrophysiological analog of masking release using speech-evoked cortical potentials in steady and modulated maskers and to relate this masking release to behavioral measures for the same stimuli. The hypothesis was that the evoked potentials can be tracked to a lower stimulus level in a modulated masker than in a steady masker and that the magnitude of this electrophysiological masking release is of the same order as that of the behavioral masking release for the same stimuli.

Design: Cortical potentials evoked by an 80-ms /ba/ stimulus were measured in two steady maskers (30 and 65 dB SPL), and in a masker that modulated between these two levels at a rate of 25 Hz.

Forward and Backward Masking of Consonants in School-Age Children and Adults.

Purpose: This experiment sought to determine whether children's increased susceptibility to nonsimultaneous masking, particularly backward masking, is evident for speech stimuli.

Method: Five- to 9-year-olds and adults with normal hearing heard nonsense consonant-vowel-consonant targets. In Experiments 1 and 2, those targets were presented between two 250-ms segments of 70-dB-SPL speech-shaped noise, at either -30 dB signal-to-noise ratio (Experiment 1) or at the listener's word recognition threshold (Experiment 2).

Effect of Stimulus Polarity on Physiological Spread of Excitation in Cochlear Implants.

Background: Contemporary cochlear implants (CIs) use cathodic-leading, symmetrical, biphasic current pulses, despite a growing body of evidence that suggests anodic-leading pulses may be more effective at stimulating the auditory system. However, since much of this research on humans has used pseudomonophasic pulses or biphasic pulses with unusually long interphase gaps, the effects of stimulus polarity are unclear for clinically relevant (i.e.

Continued maturation of the click-evoked auditory brainstem response in preschoolers.

Background: Click-evoked auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) are a valuable tool for probing auditory system function and development. Although it has long been thought that the human auditory brainstem is fully mature by age 2 yr, recent evidence indicates a prolonged developmental trajectory.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the time course of ABR maturation in a preschool population and fill a gap in the knowledge of development.

Prior experience biases subcortical sensitivity to sound patterns.

To make sense of our ever-changing world, our brains search out patterns. This drive can be so strong that the brain imposes patterns when there are none. The opposite can also occur: The brain can overlook patterns because they do not conform to expectations.

Human brainstem plasticity: the interaction of stimulus probability and auditory learning.

Two forms of brainstem plasticity are known to occur: an immediate stimulus probability-based and learning-dependent plasticity. Whether these kinds of plasticity interact is unknown. We examined this question in a training experiment involving three phases: (1) an initial baseline measurement, (2) a 9-session training paradigm, and (3) a retest measurement.