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Treatment of incus lysis with hydroxyapatite bone cement

Middle ear implants provide a suitable alternative for some patients with a certain degree of sensorineural or mixed hearing loss, not wanting a hearing aid. Vibrant SounBridge® (VSB) middle ear implant (MEI), of Med-El®firm, is one such implant. In this...

Minimally invasive surgery vs. linear incision for BAHA – outcomes compared at six months

The postoperative outcomes which are clinically relevant now in bone anchored hearing device surgery have come a long way over the past decade. The newer techniques have meant that previous concerns with skin numbness and cosmesis are now such rare...

Dead regions in patients with cochlear implants

The very nature of a dead region (DR) in a cochlea means that they are often found in patients who are eligible for cochlear implants. However, a variety of different hearing configurations are found in those with DRs because of...

Quality of life in adolescence

Adolescence can be a difficult time and the added complexity of a hearing loss can exacerbate feelings during this period. In the literature, there are mixed findings that show while some children with hearing loss score poorly on some aspects...

Managing hearing preservation expectations of adult CI patients

This paper is a single-centre review of adult cochlear implants in patients with preserved low-frequency hearing, focusing on the outcomes at 10 months post-implantation, and the rates of electroacoustic stimulation actually used in this group of patients. The centre identified...

Recording of electrode voltages (REVS) to determine extra-cochlear electrodes

Determining whether electrodes are sitting within the cochlea can be difficult as the checks run by the programming software cannot always determine this. In some cases, patients may be unable to give the audiologist detailed feedback which can complicate the...

Robotic insertion of electrode array in cochlear implantation

Cochlear implants (CIs) are commonly used for profound bilateral hearing loss. They have specific national guidance for their insertion, however patients with a substantial residual acoustic hearing are potential CI candidates. Preservation of this residual hearing can be sought with...

Impedance for different electrode types

Measuring cochlear implant (CI) electrode impedances is common in CI programming appointments to measure the integrity of the implant e.g. whether there are any open or short electrodes. This is because impedance measures the flow of current between intra and...

International consensus paper on implantable devices for conductive or mixed loss

This is a weighty but insightful ‘Special Feature’ paper in the June edition of Otology and Neurotology. It has the broad aim to gather current opinion from otologists, audiologists, manufacturers and health-economists from around the world on unilateral hearing implantation...

Electrocochleography and cochlear implants programming

Cochlear implants (CIs) often are the only option for people with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss to be able to hear. Therefore, effective CI programming seems very important, especially in children who are still developing their speech. Using acoustic...

The decision-making process by parents of children with residual hearing who receive cochlear implants

It can be a difficult decision for parents whose children have residual hearing whether or not to undergo cochlear implantation. Their children may seem to be hearing with their hearing aids, and even in some cases can hear without aids....