1 Department of Hearing and Speech Science, Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
2 Advanced Bionics, Valencia, CA, USA.
Trends Hear. 2018 Jan-Dec;22:2331216518755288. doi: 10.1177/2331216518755288.
Considerable advancements in cochlear implant technology (e.g., electric acoustic stimulation) and assessment materials have yielded expanded criteria. Despite this, it is unclear whether individuals with better audiometric thresholds and speech understanding are being referred for cochlear implant workup and pursuing cochlear implantation. The purpose of this study was to characterize the mean auditory and demographic profile of adults presenting for preoperative cochlear implant workup. Data were collected prospectively for all adult preoperative workups at Vanderbilt from 2013 to 2015. Subjects included 287 adults (253 postlingually deafened) with a mean age of 62.3 years. Each individual was assessed using the minimum speech test battery, spectral modulation detection, subjective questionnaires, and cognitive screening. Mean consonant-nucleus-consonant word scores, AzBio sentence scores, and pure-tone averages for postlingually deafened adults were 10%, 13%, and 89 dB HL, respectively, for the ear to be implanted. Seventy-three individuals (25.4%) met labeled indications for Hybrid-L and 207 individuals (72.1%) had aidable hearing in the better hearing ear to be used in a bimodal hearing configuration. These results suggest that mean speech understanding evaluated at cochlear implant workup remains very low despite recent advancements. Greater awareness and insurance accessibility may be needed to make cochlear implant technology available to those who qualify for electric acoustic stimulation devices as well as individuals meeting conventional cochlear implant criteria.
尽管耳蜗植入技术（例如电声刺激）和评估材料取得了相当大的进展，扩大了标准，但仍不清楚是否有更好的听力阈值和言语理解能力的人正在接受耳蜗植入检查并追求耳蜗植入。本研究的目的是描述接受术前耳蜗植入检查的成年人的平均听觉和人口统计学特征。从 2013 年到 2015 年，前瞻性地收集了范德比尔特所有成年术前检查的数据。研究对象包括 287 名成年人（253 名后天失聪），平均年龄为 62.3 岁。每位患者均采用最小言语测试、频谱调制检测、主观问卷和认知筛查进行评估。后天失聪成人的平均辅音-核-辅音词得分、AzBio 句子得分和纯音平均听力值分别为植入耳的 10%、13%和 89 dB HL。73 名患者（25.4%）符合 Hybrid-L 标签指征，207 名患者（72.1%）在拟植入耳的健侧听力中具有可助听的听力，可用于双模听力配置。这些结果表明，尽管最近取得了进展，但在耳蜗植入检查中评估的平均言语理解能力仍然非常低。需要更多的意识和保险可及性，以使那些有资格获得电声刺激设备以及符合传统耳蜗植入标准的人能够获得耳蜗植入技术。
