Comparison of Perioperative Electrophysiological Measurements and Postoperative Results in Cochlear Implantation with a Slim Straight Electrode

Abstract

This research aims to determine whether a neural response telemetry (NRT) threshold determines the success of surgery. Furthermore, we examined whether the patient’s age, the etiology of their hearing loss, the depth of the electrode insertion, and a slow electrode insertion affect the result of postoperative speech audiometry (PSA). A total of 23 patients that had operations in a tertiary medical centre were included in the research. All of them received a slim straight electrode that was inserted through the round window into the lateral part of scala tympani The duration of the insertion was consistently 2 min in 52.2% and less than 2 min in 47.8% of cases. Statistical analyses were performed in the IBM SPSSTM program. Patients that were diagnosed with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) had statistically lower average NRT threshold values in comparison to patients diagnosed with otosclerosis (t = 3.069; p = 0.034). The depth of electrode insertion is inversely proportional to the average of all NRT thresholds (r = −0.464; p = 0.026). No correlation was found between slow electrode insertion and postoperative average values of tone audiometry (U = 44.000; p = 0.300). No statistically significant correlation could be drawn between the average of all NRT thresholds and postoperative speech audiometry (rho = −0.070; p = 0.751).