CONCLUSIONS: Subjects with cochlear ossification derived benefits in terms of speech performance similar to those of the non-ossified group. It is thus recommended that the insertion of short electrode arrays should be considered an alternative choice for patients with cochlear ossification. OBJECTIVE: Cochlear ossification has been recognized as a major obstacle to the full insertion of a multichannel cochlear implant electrode array. To alleviate the technical difficulty of placing a standard electrode array and the possibility of causing undesirable trauma to the cochlea, a newly designed electrode array with the same number of electrodes compressed into a shorter length has been made available. The aim of the present study was to examine the speech perception performance of patients implanted with the MED-EL C40+S compressed electrode array and to compare their results with those of matched groups implanted with the MED-EL C40+standard electrode array. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One pre-lingually and two post-lingually deaf subjects using short electrode arrays were matched with three groups of subjects using standard electrode arrays. The pre- and postoperative speech perception scores were evaluated. RESULTS: All three subjects using compressed electrode arrays achieved speech perception scores comparable to those of matched subjects using standard electrode arrays. There was also a tendency for the subjects to show similar patterns of speech perception scores as a function of the difficulty of the tests.
CONCLUSIONS: Subjects with cochlear ossification derived benefits in terms of speech performance similar to those of the non-ossified group. It is thus recommended that the insertion of short electrode arrays should be considered an alternative choice for patients with cochlear ossification. OBJECTIVE: Cochlear ossification has been recognized as a major obstacle to the full insertion of a multichannel cochlear implant electrode array. To alleviate the technical difficulty of placing a standard electrode array and the possibility of causing undesirable trauma to the cochlea, a newly designed electrode array with the same number of electrodes compressed into a shorter length has been made available. The aim of the present study was to examine the speech perception performance of patients implanted with the MED-EL C40+S compressed electrode array and to compare their results with those of matched groups implanted with the MED-EL C40+standard electrode array. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One pre-lingually and two post-lingually deaf subjects using short electrode arrays were matched with three groups of subjects using standard electrode arrays. The pre- and postoperative speech perception scores were evaluated. RESULTS: All three subjects using compressed electrode arrays achieved speech perception scores comparable to those of matched subjects using standard electrode arrays. There was also a tendency for the subjects to show similar patterns of speech perception scores as a function of the difficulty of the tests.