Cochlear Implantation

Cochlear implantation has been a treatment modality for congenital and acquired deafness for some time, with excellent results in terms of speech reception and eventually speech production and language acquisition. However, there is still considerable difference in outcome between recipients. It is one of our goals to seek out these differences and to find explanatory correlates, for instance in general cognitive performance.

A particular group of interest is the group of children with additional cognitive problems for example as a result of a congenital cytomegalovirus infection. We also seek to improve performance with bilateral implantation, and investigate its effect on level of performance, and at brainstem and cortical level. A challenge for the technology of electrical stimulation of the cochlear nerve is to improve resolution and reduce current levels in doing so.

One way in which this may be achieved is direct contact between nerve fibers and the electrode itself. This is a new field of research to explore, involving imaging techniques and anatomical studies to evaluate surgical feasibility, as an onset towards biological studies of neuronal – electrode interface.