Acoustic plus electric speech processing: Long‐term results

Objective Few studies have investigated the stability of residual hearing and speech perception outcomes in individuals who were implanted with a shorter electrode device. Study Design Longitudinal, single‐subject design. Methods Fifty subjects who received a Nucleus Hybrid (Cochlear, Sydney, Australia) short electrode cochlear implant (CI) and had a minimum of 2 years (and up to 15 years) of postoperative longitudinal experience were included in this study. Twenty‐three subjects received a Nucleus Hybrid S8 (S8); 14 subjects received a Nucleus Hybrid L24 (L24); and 13 received a Nucleus Hybrid S12 (S12). Audiometric thresholds and consonant‐nucleus‐consonant (CNC) words were collected pre‐ and postoperatively for up to 15 years for the S8 subjects and for up to 7 years for the S12 and L24 subjects. AzBio Sentences in multi‐talker babble was collected for up to 7 years on the S12 and L24 subjects. Results Longitudinally, 83% of the S8 subjects, 92% of the S12 subjects, and 86% of the L24 subjects maintained a functional hearing pure‐tone average (PTA) (125–500 Hz). Predicted change using a piecewise linear mixed model in PTA over time showed a postoperative linear decrease in hearing for each group until 0.5 years, after which the PTA stabilizes and is maintained. The averaged individual data for CNC and AzBio sentences show a significant improvement in scores by 0.25 to 0.5 years postimplantation, after which scores start to reach their maximum. Conclusion This long‐term study demonstrates that acoustic‐electric processing hearing and improvement in speech understanding in quiet and in noise can be accomplished and sustained for many years with a short electrode CI. Level of Evidence 2C. Laryngoscope, 128:473–481, 2018