Evaluation of Performance with the COMBI 40 Cochlear Implant in Adults: A Multicentric Clinical Study

Abstract

The present multicentric clinical study involves 19 centres, 16 of them in German-speaking countries, 1 British, 1 Polish and 1 Hungarian. 60 postlingually deafened adults with a mean age of 47.5 years (20–70) and a mean duration of deafness of 5.3 years (0.5–20) have been evaluated with the MED-EL COMBI 40 cochlear implant which implements a high-rate continuous-interleaved-sampling strategy with 8 channels. Safety and effectiveness data have been collected. Speech perception tests include a 16-consonant, an 8-vowel, a sentence and a monosyllabic-word test in all languages and a 2-digit figure test in all languages but English. Test intervals are 1,3,6 months and 1 year after first fitting. 41 of the 60 postlingually deafened adult study patients have completed their 6-month evaluation. While their pre-operative monosyllabic-word score was 0%, their mean monosyllabic-word score 6 months after first fitting was 48% (8–90) with a median of 50%. The mean sentence understanding was 84% (24–100) with a median of 90%. The respective values for the 1-year evaluations with 25 patients are a mean of 50% (5–85), with a median of 60%, for the monosyllables and a mean of 89% (30–100), with a median of 97%, for the sentences.

Cochlear implants: A remarkable past and a brilliant future

“…The solid line in each panel shows the mean of the individual scores. The data are a superset of those reported in Helms et al (1997), that include scores for additional subjects at various test intervals, as reported in Wilson (2006). Most of the subjects used an 8-channel processor with a pulse rate of about 1500/s/electrode.…”

Effect of Digital Frequency Compression (DFC) on Speech Recognition in Candidates for Combined Electric and Acoustic Stimulation (EAS)

“…A number of cochlear implant centers have reported several cases of hearing preservation and have demonstrated that patients can integrate acoustically and electrically stimulated percepts (Gantz et al, 2005;Gantz & Turner, 2004;Gstoettner et al, 2004;Kiefer et al, 2005;Skarzynski, Lorens, & Piotrowska, 2004;von Ilberg et al, 1999). The mean monosyllabic word recognition scores of EAS listeners have been reported to be as high as 79% (Gantz et al, 2005)-much higher than the mean score of 55%-60% correct reported for conventional, unilateral cochlear implants (Helms et al, 1997).…”

Cochlear implants: Current designs and future possibilities

“…Scores for the Hochmair-Schultz-Moser sentences are presented in Figure 8(a), and scores for recognition of the Freiburger monosyllabic words are [57] and include scores for additional subjects at various test intervals. Most of the subjects used an eight-channel processor with a pulse rate of about 1,500/s/electrode.…”

“…Scores for the electric-only condition are shown in the middle column, and scores for the combined EAS condition are shown in the right column. In addition, scores for the 55 subjects in the Helms et al study [57] are shown in the left column to provide a reference for findings with a fully inserted cochlear implant from a large population of tested subjects. (These data are the same as those presented in the rightmost column of Figure 8(b).…”