CORRELATION BETWEEN NEURAL RESPONSE TELEMETRY (NRT) MESUREMENT LEVEL AND BEHAVIORL (T-LEVEL AND C-LEVEL) IN PRELINGUAL COCHLEAR IMPLANT PATIENTS

Abstract

 Objectives: To study the correlation between Neural Response Telemetry (NRT) measurement level and behavioral (Threshold level and Comfort level) in pre lingual cochlear implant patients age between 2 -10 years old at one and three months post implant. Methods: A cross sectional study conducted at University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Center from September 2010 to January 2012. Total numbers of hundred patients were involved in this study.All recipients implanted with Nucleus 24 cochlear implant and had full insertion and normal activation of the electrode array. Comparison between intra-operative NRT measurement level and behavioral (T-level and C-level) in cochlear implant patients at one month and three months post implantation were obtained respectively. Results: This study showed the intra-operative NRT levels were seen to fall between the T and C levels in one and three months respectively. There was also a positive correlation between NRT value measurements and both T and C value measurements in both one and three months (p value 0.01). There is a fair strength of the linear relationship between NRT and behavioral level in both one and three month post implant as shown by the r value (0.4 at one month, 0.2 at three months) Conclusion: It is useful to use the NRT values to predict the behavioral T and C values in prelingual children and an additional tool for the mapping. Key words: Neural Response Telemetry (NRT); Threshold level; Comfort level; Nucleus 24 cochlear implant.