One-year follow up of auditory performance in post-lingually deafened adults implanted with the Neurelec Digisonic® SP/Saphyr® Neo cochlear implant system

Abstract

This study aimed to quantify outcomes in a group of patients who were implanted with an Oticon Medical Neurelec (Vallauris, France) cochlear implant system, the Digisonic® SP/Saphyr® Neo. Ten participants took part in this preliminary study. Their speech perception capacities were evaluated at 3, 6, and 12-months after cochlear implant activation and compared to pre-implantation scores and to scores observed with former versions of the sound processor. Compared to former versions of the sound processor, patients using the Saphyr® Neo processor obtained better speech perception scores for sentences in silence at each tests session (3 months: 79%, 6 months: 82% and 12 months: 94%) compared to Digisonic® users (respectively: 58%, 69% and 75%) and Convex sound processor users (resp. 39%, 59% and 51%). These observations confirm that the technological improvements made in the Saphyr® Neo sound processor coupled with the Digisonic® implant, provided quantifiable benefits in speech perception in Quiet compared to former versions of the processor Convex and Digisonic® SP.

Keywords

• Cochlear implant outcomes
• tonal audiometry
• speech audiometry
• post-lingual deafness.