Long-term measures of electrode impedance and auditory thresholds for the Ineraid cochlear implant.

Measures of electrode impedance and of detection thresholds for electrical stimuli were extracted from the records of patients implanted with the Ineraid cochlear prosthesis. An analysis of impedance measures, obtained at 1, 12, 24, and 36 months after surgery, demonstrated (a) a significant decrease in impedance over the first year for electrodes that carried current and (b) significant increases in impedance at 24 and 36 months for electrodes that did not carry current. An analysis of detection thresholds, obtained at the same times as the impedance measures, demonstrated that averaged thresholds for the current-carrying electrodes varied no more than 0.5 dB over the 3-year period. These results support the conclusion that stimulation with the Ineraid device does not produce deleterious changes in the electrodes or in the target neural tissue.