Abstract
OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: The use of a short 10-mm/10-electrode cochlear implant to preserve low-frequency residual hearing was investigated. This report describes the 12-month outcomes of this multicenter clinical trial. STUDY DESIGN: Single-subject design. METHODS: Twenty-eight subjects with low-frequency hearing at or better than 60 dB HL at 500 Hz and severe high-frequency hearing loss were implanted with a Nucleus Hybrid S12 implant in their poorer ear. Speech perception in quiet using Consonant-Nucleus-Consonant (CNC) words and sentences in noise using AzBio sentences was collected pre- and postoperatively at 3, 6, and 12 months. Subjective reporting using the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) questionnaire was also collected pre- and postoperatively. RESULTS: Functional hearing preservation was accomplished in 96% of subjects. At 3 and 6 months, 86% of the 28 subjects had maintained functional hearing. By 12 months, 23 out of 27 subjects (85%) had maintained functional hearing (one subject with functional hearing at 6 months withdrew from the study prior to the 12-month visit). Speech perception results demonstrated that 81% of the participants on CNC words and 77% with AzBio sentences in noise had significant improvements using their everyday listening condition at 12 months compared to preoperative performance with bilateral hearing aids. Furthermore, preoperative to 12 months postoperative subjective ratings showed significant improvements for the SSQ. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that a high degree of hearing preservation enabling acoustic-electric hearing and improvement in speech understanding in quiet and in noise can be accomplished using a short-electrode 10-mm cochlear implant. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 2c Laryngoscope, 130:E548-E558, 2020.