Correlation between behaviorally measured comfort (c) levels and electrically evoked stapedius reflex thresholds (ESRT) in children with unilateral cochlear implant

Abstract

Introduction: Decrease in the lower age limit for paediatric cochlear implantation and increasing records of cochlear implantation in children with associated impairments demand quick and easily available objective measurements to provide MAP in these children as their speech and language ability may not be adequate to provide clear cut explanation about comfort level. Providing adequate amount of acoustic stimulation in this golden period of life (i.e. 0-2 years) is important in ensuring the proper utilization of acoustic cues. Findings of adult population cannot be directly applied to younger children and till date there is no Indian study reporting relationship between Electrically Evoked Stapedial Reflex Thresholds (ESRT) and behavioural Comfort levels, especially in pediatric population. Aim: The present study aimed to assess the correlation between behaviorally measured comfort (C) levels and Electrically Evoked Stapedius Reflex Thresholds (ESRT) in children with unilateral cochlear implant. Method: Children (n=40) with age range of 4-12 years, who received the same type of CI and electrode configuration, were selected for the study. Participants were divided into two groups – younger and older - based on their chronological age. Behavioural C-level measurement and ESRT measurement were done after tympanometry for both the groups. Correlation between the two measures was obtained and comparison between the two groups was done. Results and discussion: Recorded ESRT was consistently higher than the behaviorally obtained C-level for both the groups. The correlation between ESRT and C-level varies from moderate to very strong and strong to very strong for the younger and older groups respectively. No statistically significant difference was found between the correlations for the two age groups. Conclusions: High correlations were found between the ESRT and behaviorally obtained C-levels. Thus ESRT can be utilized as a tool for programming in younger implant recipients.