Audiometric profile of cochlear implant recipients

Objectives: Describe the population of cochlear implant (CI) recipients in one hospital across 9 years. Study design: Retrospective Material & methods: Hearing evaluation before and after cochlear implantation was obtained using tonal and vocal audiometry (each ear individually and sound field). Cases not suitable for conventional audiometry were tested using visual reinforcement audiometry or Brain Evoked Response Audiometry (BERA). Results and Conclusions: 37 individuals (46 ears); mean age 35,1 years (min:1; max:74); 62,2% male. In terms of pre-CI hearing, in children there were 3 cases of absent waves on BERA, 6 cases of profound and 2 cases of severe hearing loss. In adults, pure tone average (PTA) pre-CI of the best ear was 91,9 dB (min:72,5; max:103,7). On post-IC audiometric evaluation, in children, PTA was 46,5 dB (min:26; max:71,3). Adults had a PTA of 39,9 dB (mín:22,8; máx:77,5). In terms of vocal audiometry, the maximum of intelligibility for disyllabic words went from 18,1% (min:0; max:80) without CI to 79,5% (min:30; max:100) with CI; p<0,001. Generally speaking, hearing performance of cochlear implant recipients improved.