**Author details**

*The Human Auditory System - Basic Features and Updates on Audiological Diagnosis and Therapy*

Subgroup No 1 5 (31.2) 7 (43.8) 4 (25.0) Subgroup No 2 0 (0.0) 8 (61.5) 5 (38.5) Control group 12 (70.6) 3 (17.6) 2 (11.8)

*Hearing preservation 12 months after CI implantation, according to the type of treatment (data are given as* 

**Minimal (0–25%) Partial (26–75%) Complete (≤75%)**

Previously published studies have shown that there have been new directions in the development and use of electrodes and cochlear implant surgery in recent years. Currently, researchers, clinicians, and commercial companies are working on developing modern steroid-eluting electrodes or electrodes with controlled drug delivery. The results of the preliminary study described in this chapter suggested that combined glucocorticoid administration (according to scheme of administration in the second subgroup) is beneficial in preserving and stabilizing hearing thresholds in patients undergoing cochlear implantation surgery. The findings of this study are supported by the results of similar studies [1, 17]. However, the present study adds to the findings of previous studies by having a relatively long follow-up period, of 12 months after activation, with study analysis conducted during six different follow-up periods. According to the results, administration of glucocorticoids (dexamethasone and prednisone or dexamethasone only) to the patients, who suffered from partial deafness and underwent cochlear implantation surgery, may be important in stabilization of hearing thresholds and in protection of hearing. The dispersion of measured values in the second group (the second subgroup) was

**166**

**Figure 5.**

**Table 2.**

lesser than in the first and the control group.

*Hearing preservation (HP) rate in three subgroups.*

*the number of patients (percentage in brackets)*.

Magdalena B. Skarżyńska1,2,3

1 Institute of Sensory Organs, Kajetany, Polnad

2 Center of Hearing and Speech Medincus, Kajetany, Poland

3 World Hearing Center, Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warsaw/Kajetany, Poland

\*Address all correspondence to: m.skarzynska@csim.home.pl

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
