Simultaneous Analog Stimulation (SAS) Continuous Interleaved Sampler (CIS)pilot comparison study in Europe

The recent availability of the enhanced bipolar electrode array in the CLAR ION(R) Multi-Strategy(TM) Cochlear Implant has permitted clinicians to fit patients successfully with the Simultaneous Analog Stimulation (SAS) strate gy by means of bipolar coupling. Out of 22 consecutively implanted subjects , 20 subjects could be fitted with both Continuous Interleaved Sampler (CIS ) and SAS strategies. Their performance was evaluated up to 3 months postop eratively. Speech perception results, as well as the patient's preference f or either CIS or SAS, were examined. It was found that half of the subjects selected SAS as their preferred strategy and that the use of a preferred s trategy resulted in higher overall patient performance. Further analyses sh owed that those subjects preferring SAS had higher electrode impedance valu es and lon:er threshold and most comfortable loudness levels than subjects preferring CIS. We presume that these psychophysical findings are, in part, related to the position of the intracochlear electrode array. Specifically , SAS users may have a more modiolus-hugging electrode array position.