Evaluating speech perception of the MAXUM middle ear implant versus speech perception under inserts

Objectives/Hypothesis To evaluate the speech perception of the Ototronix MAXUM middle ear implant relative to the cochlear potential for speech perception of patients. Study Design Clinical study chart review. Methods We performed an evaluation of data from a prospective clinical study of 10 MAXUM patients. Primary outcome measures included comparison of word recognition (WR) scores with MAXUM (WR MAXUM ) versus word recognition under inserts (WR inserts ), and the functional gain improvement for pure‐tone average (PTA) (0.5, 1, and 2 kHz) and high‐frequency pure‐tone average (2, 3, and 4 kHz). Results Ten ears in 10 adult patients (six female; average age 68.7 years) were included. The average speech perception gap (difference between WR inserts and WR MAXUM ) with MAXUM was −9.2% (range, −26% to 4%). A negative number indicates that WR MAXUM was higher than the WR inserts . The average PTA with MAXUM was 23.1 dB (range, 18.7–30 dB), a 38.0‐dB gain over the preoperative unaided condition (range, 20–53.3 dB). The average high‐frequency pure‐tone average with MAXUM was 34.4 dB (range, 26–43.3 dB), a 42.8‐dB gain over the preoperative unaided condition (range, 32.3–58.7 dB). Conclusions These data demonstrate that a significant, very strong correlation was observed between WR inserts and WR MAXUM scores ( r = 0.86, P = .001), and a patient's WR inserts score may be used to reasonably predict the word recognition outcomes with MAXUM. Level of Evidence 4. Laryngoscope , 128:456–460, 2018