Programming Cochlear Implants

Jace Wolfe and Erin Schafer

Cochlear implants offer significant benefits for children and adults with severe to profound hearing loss; however, to realize these benefits the device must be carefully and correctly programmed. With current information on cochlear implant technology, Programming Cochlear Implants, Second Edition, a volume in the Core Clinical Concepts in Audiology Series, is a valuable guide for clinicians providing services to cochlear implant users or as a teaching tool for graduate-level students.

Programming Cochlear Implants, Second Edition introduces the basics of cochlear implant hardware and programming and continues through advanced programming techniques, with manufacturer-specific information and case studies. The text reviews clinical protocols for cochlear implant management; programming considerations for bilateral cochlear implant; troubleshooting during the programming process; device-specific programming techniques; use of objective measures to set cochlear implant programs; use of FM and assistive listening devices with cochlear implants; and providing support to difficult-to-program users, such as infants, individuals with cognitive impairment, persons with disabilities, and so forth.

New topics addressed in the second edition include:

• preservation of residual hearing following cochlear implant surgery
• programming cochlear implants for patients with substantial residual hearing in the low-frequency range, including electrode array options
• cochlear implant impedances and the impact of impedance on programming and management
• signal coding strategies and signal processing
• theoretical concepts that may influence cochlear implant programming

Reviews

• Nancy Cambron,International Journal of Audiology 2011(2011):
  "[***FIRST EDITION***]...a practical straightforward text that delivers what it advertises— a thorough description of how to program cochlear implant processors...well-organized. Bold headings invite the reader to flip through the chapters to the topic of his or her interest. Large photographs, figures, and tables are clear, easy to read, and apply directly to the text. The descriptions are up-to-date and the photographs show current devices. The authors do a great job of explaining the most recent technology as well as previous strategies and devices that clinicians may encounter...Overall, I heartily recommend this book as a useful resource in the audiology classroom as well as in the cochlear implant clinic. Drs. Wolfe and Schafer ambitiously cover the current cochlear implant technology to date, and I look forward to seeing new editions as technology emerges."

• Dan Schwartz,The Hearing Blog(2015):
  "We have received the second edition of this excellent book, and it is over twice the size of the first edition and even better than the first edition. We recommend it.

  [***FIRST EDITION***] Programming Cochlear Implants is a pretty darned good book for a college educated CI candidate, CI "power user", or even the parents of a "CI kiddie", as it provides a nicely detailed view of CI’s, rather than what you can extract from the "FDA-sanitized" marketing hype from the CI manufacturers. This book has some very nice troubleshooting tips, especially for parents and school audiologists. Also, Chapter 7 on hearing assistance technology (HAT), which is mostly all on FM, is very good, as it lays out how configuring FM assistive devices with CI’s differs from hearing aids: In the opinion of The Hearing Blog, this chapter is worth the price of the book alone...

  Where this book is quite helpful to the CI user community is pointing out where Best Practices can be (and often are) skimped to speed things along in busy clinics; and when these shortcuts are taken, should serve as Warning Flags to the astute user or parent. A large part of these shortcuts are due to poor 3rd party reimbursement; but also it’s a bit troubling that the ramifications of the CI audiologist taking these shortcuts in terms of patient performance is not fully discussed in this book, i.e. it’s OK if the CI audiologist has an attitude of "it’s good enough for government work", which, as an Engineer, this reviewer finds a bit lacking. Most notably, the common shortcut of assuming T levels of 10% of M levels on the AB and Med-El systems will result in an incorrect input dynamic range (IDR) being displayed: It will work, but in an unpredictable manner depending on the actual (measured) T levels the patient has...Overall, we give Programming Cochlear Implants a 4½ Star rating; and we highly recommend it to CI users, parents of CI kiddies, and to CI candidates."

   

  Details: 408 pages, Color Illustrations (2 Color), Softcover, 8.5 x 11"

  ISBN13: 978-1-59756-552-3

  Release Date: 31/10/2014