Introduction:
Due to technological und rehabilitative advances in the field of cochlear implants
the indication criteria for implantation have been considerably extended over recent
years. Nowadays it is common practice that patients with significant ipsilateral residual
hearing become candidates for implantation. In order to assist the attending physician
with choosing the best option for the individual patient, a clinical tool is developed
that uses a statistical model to predict the probable outcomes of implantation with
a cochlear implant based on preoperative patient data.
Methods:
Demographical data, pure tone and speech audiological data as well as anatomical data
of cochlear implantation patients were collected at the Medical School Hannover. These
data were analyzed in combination with data collected in the clinical routine with
respect to their predictive power regarding cochlear implantation outcomes.
Results:
Preliminary results show that the intracochlear position of the electrode array and
the cochlear coverage resulting from the position and the cochlear anatomy have an
effect on postoperative speech reception. Furthermore it could be shown that preoperative
results in the Oldenburg sentence test (OLSA) as well as factors like age and socio-economic
status are good predictors of cochlear implantation outcomes.
Conclusions:
The preliminary results suggest that a statistical prediction of cochlear implantation
outcomes is possible with the precision necessary for a clinical application. A prototype
of a clinical tool will be tested in clinical practice as soon as possible.
