One-Year Follow Up of Auditory Performance in Post-Lingually Deafened Adults Implanted with the Neurelec Digisonic(®) SP/Saphyr(®) Neo Cochlear Implant System.

Déborah Borger,Hung Thai-Van,Geneviève Lina-Granade,Michel Hoen,Stéphanie Verneyre,Sonia Saaï,Eric Truy,Dan Gnansia

doi:10.4081/audiores.2015.139

Abstract

This study aimed to quantify outcomes in a group of patients who were implanted with an Oticon Medical Neurelec (Vallauris, France) cochlear implant system, the Digisonic® SP/Saphyr® Neo. Ten participants took part in this preliminary study. Their speech perception capacities were evaluated at 3, 6, and 12-months after cochlear implant activation and compared to pre-implantation scores and to scores observed with former versions of the sound processor. Compared to former versions of the sound processor, patients using the Saphyr® Neo processor obtained better speech perception scores for sentences in silence at each tests session (3 months: 79%, 6 months: 82% and 12 months: 94%) compared to Digisonic® users (respectively: 58%, 69% and 75%) and Convex sound processor users (resp. 39%, 59% and 51%). These observations confirm that the technological improvements made in the Saphyr® Neo sound processor coupled with the Digisonic® implant, provided quantifiable benefits in speech perception in Quiet compared to former versions of the processor Convex and Digisonic® SP.

Highlights

Cochlear implants (CI) currently constitute the most successful machine-brain interface and an ever-improving treatment of choice for patients with severe-to-profound hearing loss.[1]
Improvements in technology can regularly be available through updates of the external part of the CI system, the sound processor
The goal of the present mono-centric follow-up study was to measure the evolution of auditory and speech perception outcomes in patients who were implanted with a new generation of CI, comprising new sound processors: the Digisonic® SP/Saphyr® Neo system (Oticon Medical Neurelec, Vallauris, France), in order to evaluate objective benefits of the change in sound-processor generation

Summary

Introduction

Cochlear implants (CI) currently constitute the most successful machine-brain interface and an ever-improving treatment of choice for patients with severe-to-profound hearing loss.[1] With nowadays more than 300,000 implanted patients worldwide, CIs provide remarkable changes to many patients with congenital or acquired deafness. Sound processor upgrades naturally aim to improve auditory capacities and the quality of communications and sound experience of users. This claim must be supported by objective measures quantifying these improvements. The goal of the present mono-centric follow-up study was to measure the evolution of auditory and speech perception outcomes in patients who were implanted with a new generation of CI, comprising new sound processors: the Digisonic® SP/Saphyr® Neo system (Oticon Medical Neurelec, Vallauris, France), in order to evaluate objective benefits of the change in sound-processor generation. We monitored auditory performance as evaluated by free-field warble tone thresholds before and one year after cochlear implantation and speech intelligibility in quiet and in silence, before and at three stages during the first year of CI usage, thereby monitoring the patients’ habituation phase

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion