The Facial Nerve Canal: An Important Cochlear Conduction Path Revealed by Clarion Electrical Field Imaging

Abstract

The clinical use of EFI is not limited to checking the implant's status. For the Clarion II implant, a purely resistive model is able to match in vivo EFI recordings. The model indicates that the facial nerve canal is an important conduction path to the reference electrode. EFI can provide clinically relevant information, especially in problematic cases of cochlear malformations, postoperative fibrosis/ossification, implanted otosclerotic cochleae, postoperative facial nerve stimulation, increased stimulation thresholds, and so on.