Middle Ear Disease and Cochlear Implant Function: A Case Study.

Objectives And Methods: It has been our clinical observation that active middle ear disease (MED) temporally corresponds to a transient decrease in cochlear implant (CI) function, specifically at the apical electrodes. This is non-intuitive as CI function is thought to be independent of middle ear aeration and inflammation. The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate how active MED negatively affects both subjective hearing complaints and objective impedance measures in a CI patient.