Bilateral Cochlear Implantation: Auditory Outcome Depending on the Time Between Two Operations

Abstract

A B S T R A C TThe aim of this study was to compare the auditory outcome between two groups of patients with bilateral cochlear implantation depending on the time of placement of the second cochlear implant -less and more than one year after the first one. 14 patients with bilateral cochlear implantation were enrolled and they were divided into two groups depending on the time of placement of the second cochlear implant -less and more than one year after the first one. =9,00; p=0,006). In all other tests (LiP, MTP6, MTP12, MSW, MSW-Phonemes, SLS, SLS-Words, GASP) we obtained comparable results in the observed groups. This is the first study that evaluates the auditory outcome after bilateral cochlear implantation in Bulgarian patients depending on the time between two operations -less and more than one year after the first one. The results have shown that both groups made progress and achieved substantial improvement, but we did not find any statistically significant difference in the auditory outcome between these two groups. Additional studies in larger group of patients with bilateral cochlear implants and long-term follow-up period would confirm оr rejected this.