Auditory Neuropathy and Cochlear Implants

The electrical stimulation generated by the Cochlear Implant (CI) may improve the neural synchrony and hence contribute to the development of auditory skills in patients with Auditory Neuropathy / Auditory Dys-synchrony (AN/AD). Goal: The goal of the research was to evaluate the auditory performance and the characteristics of the electrically evoked compound action potential (ECAP) in a group of 18 cochlear implants recipients with AN/AD.The auditory perception was evaluated by sound field thresholds and speech perception tests. To evaluate ECAP's characteristics, the threshold and amplitude of neural response together with the amplitude growth and recovery functions were evaluated at 80Hz stimulation rate.The CI was seen as an efficient resource to develop auditory skills in 94% of the AN/AD patients considered by the research. The auditory perception benefits as well as the possibility to measure the ECAP showed that the electrical stimulation could compensate the neural dys-synchrony caused by the AN/AD. However, a unique clinical procedure cannot be proposed at this point. Therefore, a careful and complete evaluation of each AN/AD patient before recommending the Cochlear Implant is advised