Characterizing responses from auditory cortex in young people with several years of cochlear implant experience

Researchers attempted to determine if "cortical responses evoked by a cochlear implant in children who are deaf differ from normal and to characterize these differences in children who achieve good versus fair speech perception outcomes post-implantation."

They found that:

(1) a dominant positive wave in all implant users and (2) a larger than normal negative amplitude peak in users with fair speech perception scores which had similar scalp topography to N1 but did not show the expected changes in amplitude with stimulus frequency.

Late latency-evoked potential responses in children using cochlear implants reflect abnormal and/or immature patterns of cortical activity.

Limitations in auditory skills with a cochlear implant in children may be due to developmental processes in the cortex which are either slow to mature or which mature abnormally.

Nokia HS-67WL Loopset

Nokia announced the development of a new bluetooth loopset for cochlear implant and hearing aid users:

"Enjoy audio clarity with the Nokia Wireless Loopset. With a T-coil equipped hearing aid or cochlear implant, this practical device can help hearing aid users to enjoy excellent audio quality and handsfree operation. Mobile calls can be accessed wirelessly through the hearing aid via Bluetooth technology and a single button does all the call handling."

The HS-67WL will be released in 2009.

Long-term outcomes of cochlear implantation in the preschool years

A study of the long term outcomes of preschool implantation at the University of Texas Medical Center found that:

• Speech perception scores improved significantly with long-term cochlear implant use.
  
• Average language scores improved at a faster than normal rate.
  
• Reading scores did not quite keep pace with normal development.
  
• Performance in high school was most highly correlated with scores obtained in elementary grades.
  
• Better outcomes were associated with lower PTA cochlear implant threshold, younger age at implantation and higher nonverbal IQ.
  

The study concluded that early cochlear implantation had a long-term positive impact on auditory and verbal development, but did not result in age-appropriate reading levels in high school for the majority of students.

Cognitive development in children with cochlear implants in Sweden

In this study, Swedish children with cochlear implants performed at significantly lower levels on the majority of the cognitive tasks.

Evaluation of cochlear implant electrode position after a modified round window insertion

A study estimated the postoperative cochlear implant electrode position using a modified round window approach to insert primarily into the scala tympani.

"In 78 (95.1%) patients, the array could be located in the scala tympani. In four cases, the position of the electrode was changed intracochlearly from the scala tympani to the scala vestibuli. In three additional cases, the scala vestibuli was inserted intentionally because the tympanic scale was found to be obstructed intraoperatively due to ossification. There were no significant differences between the intraoperative positioning and postoperative localization of the electrode arrays of the two manufacturers."