Comparison of speech perception performance between the Nucleus 24 and Nucleus 24 Contour cochlear implant systems

Objective - To compare the 1-, 3-, and 6-month postoperative speech perception scores obtained by a group of subjects who received the new perimodiolar array ( Nucleus Contour) cochlear implant with those obtained by a group of subjects implanted with the straight electrodes of the previous-generation Nucleus 24 device. Material and Methods - The speech performance of 10 postlingually deafened adults implanted with the Nucleus Contour device was compared with that of matched controls who received the Nucleus 24 model. Objective measures included word and sentence speech recognition scores. Results - Patients implanted with the Nucleus Contour device obtained significantly higher word and sentence recognition scores after short-term use of the implant compared to those obtained by patients implanted with the Nucleus 24 model. Conclusion - Further long-term studies are required to determine whether the Nucleus Contour CI recipients continue to improve over time.