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Long‐Term Performance of Clarion 1.0 Cochlear Implant Users
Author(s) -
Ruffin Chad V.,
Tyler Richard S.,
Witt Shelley A.,
Dunn Camille C.,
Gantz Bruce J.,
Rubinstein Jay T.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1097/mlg.0b013e318058191a
Subject(s) - cochlear implant , clarion , audiology , medicine , implant , speech perception , cochlear implantation , retrospective cohort study , correlation , psychology , perception , surgery , mathematics , neuroscience , cognitive psychology , geometry
Objective/Hypothesis: To evaluate the long‐term performance of adult Clarion 1.0 cochlear implant users. Study Design: This was a retrospective, longitudinal study evaluating word discrimination in quiet for 31 adult cochlear implant patients with preimplantation sentence scores of less than 10%. Methods: The length of the study was 135 months with a mean follow‐up length of 93 (median, 96) months. For the duration of the study, all subjects used the Clarion 1.0 cochlear implant with speech processors programmed for the use of the continuous interleaved sampling strategy. Results: There was no significant growth or decline in speech perception after 24 months postimplantation unless adverse medical events were experienced. Age at implantation was significantly and substantially negatively correlated (−11% word score per decade, r = 0.68) with most recent score, maximum score, time to maximum score, range of performance, 24‐ to 130‐month mean score, and for any longitudinal data point tested: 3 to 6 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years. There were no age‐related declines in performance. There were no observed correlations between duration of deafness and any of the variables listed above. Conclusions: The lack of correlation between duration of deafness and performance in a cohort without residual hearing suggests the presence of a strong correlation between age and speech performance with a cochlear implant. That the cochlear implant is a safe therapy for the treatment of profound deafness is supported by the stability of scores through the 10‐year study period as well as a zero rate of device failures or explantation.