Objective: To analyze the effects of residual hearing on postoperative speech performance in traditional cochlear implant (CI) patients implanted with a conventional electrode.
Study design: Retrospective review.
Setting: Academic tertiary referral center.
Patients: A total of 129 adults implanted by a single surgeon at a tertiary care facility between June 2005 and November 2010 with measurable preoperative pure tone thresholds at any frequency were included.
Intervention: Cochlear implantation with a conventional electrode via an anterior inferior cochleostomy.
Main outcome measure: Speech perception using monosyllabic word scores in quiet and sentences in quiet and noise in the electric (CI-only) condition of the implanted ear. Preservation of hearing was defined as complete for postoperative thresholds within 10 dB of preimplant values and partial if greater than 11 dB. Pure tone audiometry and speech perception testing were performed preoperatively and at regular intervals postoperatively, with the 1-year evaluation being the final outcome period.
Results: Preservation at any frequency or level was not a factor in speech perception outcome, although preservation was more common in low frequencies. Hearing preservation was correlated with younger age at implantation, but was not related to length of hearing loss, cause of deafness, device type, sex, preoperative speech performance, or low-frequency pure-tone average.
Conclusion: Hearing can be preserved in traditional CI patients implanted with a conventional electrode. Although preservation of hearing may have implications for future technology, it is not currently correlated with speech performance in the CI-only condition.