Reliability of the promontory stimulation test for the preoperative evaluation of cochlear implants: a comparison with the round window stimulation test.

The electrical stimulatory threshold of the preoperative promontory stimulation test (PST) was compared with the postoperative threshold of the electrode following cochlear implantation. Postoperative results from warble-tone audiometry, the vowel recognition test, the consonant recognition test, and the speech tracking test, which employed a speech processor, were similarly evaluated. In certain patients who responded insufficiently to the PST, an exploratory tympanotomy under local anesthesia was performed prior to cochlear implantation, and stimulatory threshold was measured with an electrode placed directly on the round window [round window stimulation test (RWST)]. No correlation was found between the PST results and the postoperative performance of the cochlear implant. The RWST was determined to be better than the PST in the evaluation of cochlear implant performance.